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Welcome to the Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce

Resources and Information from the Government of Canada. In Economic Action Plan 2012, the Government announced it would phase out the penny from Canada's coinage system. To help consumers, businesses, charities and financial institutions to plan, a transition date of February 4, 2013 has been set after which the Royal Canadian Mint will no longer distribute pennies. We would like to take this opportunity to invite you to visit www.fin.gc.ca/1cent to learn more about this initiative, and to find resources that will help you spread the message about phasing out the penny. We will also be undertaking other awareness-raising activities in the coming weeks, designed specifically for businesses and consumers both before February 4, 2013, and beyond.

Attracting Business And Jobs Key To Economic Growth

Arecent business survey conducted by the Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce (GOCC) indicated local government needs to be more business friendly and work needs to be done to address the competitiveness of the business climate in Oshawa and Durham Region compared to other cities and regions.

In early January the Policy Committees of the GOCC put together an Economic Outlook Survey to weigh the economic climate in Oshawa and Durham Region for 2013. In total nine per cent of the Chamber membership responded to the on-line survey, with 72% of respondents being in the 1-50 employee range and 21.1% with over 100 employees. The information compiled will assist the Chamber to better understand the issues of concern to the business community and help set the policy direction for the coming year.

Click here for survey results

2012 was once again extremely busy for the Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce, with close to 2,500 business people attending the over 90 events and meetings throughout the year. An army of close to 100 volunteers organized events, researched and discussed issues affecting the business community. The events ranged in size from 15 at a Lunch & Learn to over 220 at our Business Excellence Awards. Membership in a tough economy held with over 1,100 entrepreneurs, managers and corporate executives on the Chamber Who’s Who list.

A new report from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) and the Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce (GOCC) makes the case that federal policies are a barrier to Ontario’s economic growth. The Chambers are calling on the federal government to play a more productive role in improving Ontario’s economic competitiveness.

The report, A Federal Agenda for Ontario, shows that federal approaches to areas such as training, immigration, infrastructure, and economic development are hurting Ontario and its businesses.

“The federal government has done much to help Ontario during the downturn, including supporting the HST and helping bailout the auto sector” said Allan O’Dette, President & CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. “But Ontario’s economy is still recovering, and we need the federal government to continue to seek ways to drive economic growth in the province.”

On Friday, November 9th, the who’s who of Durham’s business, civic, labour, non-profit, Aboriginal and academic communities came together for the fourth biennial Durham Economic Prosperity Conference to discuss opportunities for growth focusing on “Sharpening Durham’s Competitive Edge”. The Durham Economic Prosperity Conference has maintained its reputation as the go-to forum for decision makers from across the Region. Pictured are, left to right, Greater Oshawa Chamber President Geoff Michie of RBC Dominion Securities, Hon. Gary Goodyear and Dr. Colin Carrie, MP, Oshawa.

The one half day “think tank” Conference opened with a keynote address by the Hon. Gary Goodyear, Minister of State of Science and Technology and Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), forums and interactive panel discussions included Jianwei Yu, Consul (Commercial) Consulate General of the P.R. China in Toronto; Jeffrey R. Izzo,

The Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce (GOCC) appeared as a delegation at the October 31st Durham Regional Council meeting regarding Report 2012-J33—an Update on Fair Wage Policies (FWP) for Industrial Commercial Institutional Construction Contracts. The joint Regional committee report before council called for the set up of a FWP, saying it would “level the playing field” for all companies bidding on a construction contract.

After listening to the delegations and after a lengthy debate, the policy that would have set wages and benefits contractors would have had to pay employees while working on a Regional project was defeated by a 16-11 vote.

Canadian Chamber of Commerce Report. “On November the 6th, the people of Michigan ‘switched on the lights’ for a giant infrastructure project which will create more than 10,000 construction jobs and strengthen the industrial base in both our countries,” said Canadian Chamber of Commerce President Perrin Beatty. Voters in Michigan massively rejected ballot Proposal 6, a measure which would have blocked the state government from moving ahead on the construction of the New International Trade Crossing between Windsor and Detroit.

European Opportunities - CME Report

Submitted by Ian T. Howcroft, Vice President, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) Ontario. In CME’s recent Management Issues Survey, one of the key issues is the need to expand markets, and one of the key areas of opportunity is Europe. Consequently, CME has supported the conclusion of the CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) negotiations. These negotiations have the potential to help Canadian manufacturers and exporters diversify their sales into new export markets, increase their presence in Europe and position Canada as a more attractive destination for manufacturing investment by giving Canadian companies privileged, duty-free access to the largest market in the world.

Written by Paul Frazer, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Washington, DC-based Special Advisor on Canada-U.S. Relations. In the days after the mid-term Congressional elections of 2010, I shared with you the view that the greatest challenge facing the new Republican Speaker of the House was not how to work with the Democrats but how to work with his large caucus, specifically the increased number of “Tea Party” members, on key issues. On more than one critical occasion the “Tea Party” group within the Republican caucus led a revolt to overturn compromise proposals that Speaker Boehner had worked on with the White House. In the same timeframe, the Republican Minority Leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, announced that his and the Republican Party’s main objective was to insure that President Obama would not have a second term.

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