Yukon Chamber of Commerce Newsletter

NEWSLETTER May 2016 What’s New? Yukon Chamber of Commerce activities update: The Yukon Chamber is having a very active May and June! As mentioned elsewhere in the newsletter we are undertaking a look at the $200 million a year leak in our economy that exports dollars and jobs to pay for the fossil fuel that represents 4/5 of our Yukon’s energy consumption. We will be launching an informational website in the next week that will begin to address this issue and provide opportunity for the Yukon business community and public to weigh in on their thoughts for stanching this huge leak to our economy.

In the two days leading up to our June 2 and 3 AGM, to be held in Haines Junction, we will be hosting a by-invitation-only regional Transportation Committee workshop to focus on transportation issues in the Haines Junction region. We expect representation from the Yukon and federal governments, State of Alaska, local First Nations, and the municipalities of Haines Junction, Haines Alaska, and transportation-related businesses from the region. This will be the third annual transportation workshop the Yukon Chamber Transportation Committee has hosted. The first two have resulted in good learnings and follow-up activities for our Committee.

Our AGM will also be held in Haines Junction, to support the newlyreactivated St. Elias Region Chamber of Commerce. We will hold it beginning at 1 PM on June 2, with activities continuing through the rest of the day as well as the next morning. We are pleased that we will have local representation from the Haines Junction area, and are expecting attendance from Yukon Chamber members from across the territory, as well as some political representatives.

We are still looking for Yukon Chamber members to put their names forward if they have an interest in serving on our board, so please contact us as soon as possible should you wish to be considered.

We are looking forward to putting on our third annual wine tasting immediately following the official AGM, and there will be a good dinner as well as a breakfast lecture the next morning. Based on our past experiences in Dawson City, Keno City and Watson Lake, having our AGMs in the communities is always an excellent learning and

News & Events  Featured Events: Fueling Yukon’s Economy Reception May 25 at Birch & Bear 4:30pm – 7:00pm Fueling Yukon’s Economy Workshop & Presentation May 26 at the Coast High Country Inn Classroom A 8:00am – 12:00pm Yukon Chamber AGM June 2 2:00pm to June 3 2:00pm in Haines Junction Yukon Chamber Gala June 15 at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre 4:30pm – 9:00pm For information on any of our upcoming events please contact our office 867.667.2000

Come See Us! We will be at the Dawson City International Gold Show 2016 May 20 & 21 in Dawson City

engagement experience for all three of us here at the Yukon Chamber!

Coming quickly on the heels of these exciting events will be a gala dinner hosted by the Yukon Chamber, in Whitehorse on June 15. The Governor of the Bank of Canada will be our keynote speaker for the event, and we will use it to also introduce our new Chamber chair and board, and recognize the contributions and accomplishments of a long- time Yukon Chamber movement leader, Rolf Hougen, as well as several Yukon businesses demonstrating innovative business practices. It should be a fun evening!

We continue to welcome engagement with and participation of our Chamber members on our board and committees, or even if you just want to stop in and touch base. Please feel free to stop by our offices… We're located on the second floor of Waterfront Station, next door to Boston Pizza, and are open Monday through Friday.

We hope to see you at our AGM! - Peter Turner - President, YCC

Membership Recognition The Yukon Chamber of Commerce would like to recognize BDC as they have been a member since 1985.

Thank you for your ongoing support for the efforts of the Yukon Chamber…. It’s your memberships that allow us to do the work we do for the Yukon Business Community.

The Leading Voice of Yukon’s Business Community

Employers Save Money Raise your hand if you are an employer and you do NOT like a saving on your WCB bill! Hmmm. I don’t see too many hands up.

Yukon Worker’s Compensation Health and Safety Board (YWCHSB) has a program called ‘CHOICES’. It is a voluntary employer incentive program that recognises and rewards Yukon employers with rebates for workplace training investments made in occupational health and safety (OH&S) and/or return to work (RTW).

If you send your people to a recognised trainer for workshops in first aid, confined spaces, fall protection or any number of other relevant topics, you may qualify for a rebate on your WCB assessment. Recognised trainers include Yukon College, Northern Safety Network Yukon (NSNY), and others.

The program is simple: first of all, if your organisation is COR or SECOR certified, CHOICES provides a 10% rebate, no questions asked.

If you are not COR certified, you may still be eligible for a rebate anywhere from 4% to 6% of your assessment. Let’s look at some examples.

If you have a mining company with a payroll of $800,000 and you send two people to a one-day first-aid workshop, you get a 4% rebate on your assessment. That is about $1100.

If you are an electrical contractor with a payroll of $1,500,000 and you send a couple of your people to NSNY’s two-day Leadership for Safety Excellence workshop, you get a 5% rebate on your assessment. That is over $2400.

The fact is many employers already qualify for rebates but fail to claim them. We are guessing that is because they just don’t know about the program. Well now you know.

Of course not every employer qualifies, but many do. It’s probably worth checking it out. We can help with that.

And the process for obtaining your rebate could not be simpler. All employers are required to submit an Employer Payroll Return (EPR) each February. If you are COR or SECOR, to get your rebate you need to tick one box. That’s all. If you are not COR or SECOR you need to tick two boxes and enter the total number of hours of training you did the previous year. That’s it. YWCHSB does all the rest.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity for savings. If you need more information you can see the entire policy at http://wcb.yk.ca/DocumentLibrary/Policies/CHOICES/LIB0019.aspx As with anything related to WCB or OH&S, as an employer you are always more than welcome to call Mal Malloch at 393-6061 or write to advisor@yukonchamber.com

New Members Section;

Yukon Chamber of Commerce Suite 205, 2237 – 2nd Ave Whitehorse, Yukon Y1A 0K7 office@yukonchamber.com 867.667.2000 www.yukonchamber.com