Provincial measures were the talk of the tables for chamber of commerce members during the May 22 Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce meeting.
Three chamber members attended the recent annual general meeting and conference of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, held May 3 and 4 in Onanole, Man.
A number of resolutions came out of the meeting, most of which could have a direct impact on northern Manitoba.
Resolutions included refurbishment of Highway 6, including repaving and passing lanes.
“That is an ongoing concern with northern infrastructure,” said Becky Cianflone, one of the chamber members who attended the meeting.
Another resolution suggested changes to the current practices of Manitoba fishing licence purchasing.
The resolution suggests that provincial authorities allow licences to be bought online and for a number of different term options to be available, including licences for as short as one day or one week or as long as three years.
A number of other provinces, including Ontario and Nova Scotia, already offer licences with variable terms.
Currently, Manitoba fishing licences are only available in stores, lodges or outfitters or through pre-purchasing with a credit card. Only one term – season-long – is available for purchase.
The idea would allow visitors to buy a short-term licence or pre-purchase one before heading north.
“The majority of the policies discussed were from northern Manitoba,” said Dianne Russell, chamber past-president and one of the chamber’s representatives at the meeting.
“We didn’t have a whole lot of our own specific goals, but we were big supporters of the ideas from The Pas and Thompson.”
Summits
Both Cianflone and Russell spoke to chamber about a new effort to provide a province-wide economic development strategy.
The two, who have both been involved with the provincial government’s Look North initiative, told chamber members one of the Manitoba chamber’s priorities is to streamline business legislation through one provincial agency.
“If a company wants to come to Manitoba to do business, there really isn’t a single window agency that can do the intake, give them the information they need about hydro rates, taxes, that sort of thing,” said Russell.
Russell told chamber that a program, similar to Look North but province-wide in scope, had been discussed.
“They’re developing a provincial strategy. There’s talk about a new agency being created, trying to eliminate some of the duplication. Manitoba needs an economic development brand as well. How do we do things proactively?”
Cianflone said she had been to at least two meetings where the idea was discussed.
“They did summits in Winnipeg, Brandon and Thompson and they’re asking local chambers to do summits on their behalf,” she said.
The Flin Flon chamber plans to hold an economic development meeting in September, where sitting Manitoba Chambers of Commerce president and CEO and Look North task force co-chair Chuck Davidson is slated to speak with local business leaders.
Branding
Flin Flon-based members at the annual meeting also learned more about the provincial branding initiative spurred by Travel Manitoba.
The members spoke with representatives from other communities where branding has already been unveiled, including Gimli.
“These were communities that had taken part in the place branding. We learned about how they rolled it out and how it benefitted their community, how it was all working,” said Cianflone.
“That was really beneficial for us.”
An announcement for Flin Flon’s own place branding, a project months in the making, is expected to come near the end of June.
