Being that groups powered by volunteers in the Bow Valley often struggle to remain vibrant and effective these days, we’ll give a tip of the hat to the six people who stepped up to create a chamber of commerce for the valley.
Launching on Thursday (Jan. 18), the Bow Valley Chamber of Commerce is now in effect – all that’s needed is a solid membership to move it forward.
With small operations being integral to the valley’s economic health, creation of a chamber may (page 6), depending on enthusiasm for getting involved, result in a clear, unified voice for businesses that have had little voice in the past.
In Banff and Canmore, large tourism operations have, or had, their champions in Banff Lake Louise Tourism (BLLT) and the former and now awkwardly named Canmore Business and Tourism (CBT). BLLT continues to act as a big-budget umbrella tourism organization, while the collapsed and resurrected CBT now has an accommodations-only mandate.
In Canmore, the BRZ (business revitalization zone) focus is concentrated in the downtown core, where all businesses are mandated to buy in while BOWDA (Bow Valley Builders and Developers Association), on the other hand, supports, advocates for, and is the voice of larger scale operations.
So it is small business in particular that could often be considered on the outside looking in when it comes to advocacy for its needs.
The need for a local chamber of commerce was made abundantly clear at the organization’s launch when Communitea Cafe owner Marnie Dansereau told those gathered that she belongs to the Bragg Creek chamber in order to take advantage of beneficial business and employee benefits offered.
A valley business owner shouldn’t have to belong to a chamber in another municipality to find necessary business support. Hopefully, the newly-created BVCC will offer a solution.
What remains to be seen is buy-in from the business community. It’s early days, of course, but a chamber of commerce could provide a unified voice for disparate businesses that run the gamut from the food and beverage industry to smaller trades operations and manufacturers.
With 1,600 businesses registered in Canmore alone, the width and breadth of products and services offered is vast, and with often little in common, a unified voice may be what’s needed.
In other municipalities, chambers are often consulted by mayors and councils wanting input from the business community. No council would poll 1,600 businesses on a given topic, of course, but can easily request policy or opinion from a single business entity such as a chamber in weighing a decision.
Simply having a strong chamber of commerce community in the valley may help in attracting in businesses to the valley in future.
When you realize that in this region, Cochrane, Bragg Creek, Airdrie, Crossfield, Olds, Okotoks, Chestermere, Nanton and High River, among 115 others in Alberta, all have chambers of commerce, one can only wonder what’s taken so long on the local front.
