Do You Know the Employment Standards Act?

Each month, Job Gym Employment Services hosts an employer spotlight session focusing on the needs and interests of local employers. May’s Employer Spotlight focuses on updating Niagara businesses on the latest Employment Standards Act changes.

A Ministry of Labour representative will be on hand to review the new Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act, as well as providing an overview and answering any questions of the existing ESA legislation.

Find out more

Free Webinar on Leveraging VRIO

enabling ideas^® is hosting a free educational webinar on May 23rd called Leveraging VRIO. It will teach business leaders and owners on how to lead their management teams through the VRIO strategic planning tool and exercise.

Whether you are pursuing a growth opportunity or addressing a performance improvement issue, VRIO is a powerful tool to reveal and understand strategic advantage, expose your competitive vulnerabilities, determine where strategic investments are best spent or where you may be under invested to head off disruptors.

Find out more

NWPB Announces Quarterly Employment Prospects Series

Starting this year, Niagara Workforce Planning Board’s quarterly Employment Prospects Series report has been updated to include more data, providing an overview of job opportunities in the Niagara region that require either no formal education/on-the-job training, a high school diploma, or a college diploma.

With this tool, NWPB aims to provide job coaches and employment service professionals with an additional resource when helping clients understand the job options that are available to them.

Read the report

Wear Red in Support of Project Share Campaign

Wear red to get your community fed. That’s the message Project Share is promoting this month as part of a campaign which encourages participants to host dress down or spirit days, wear red, and collect donations of food or funds in support of the non-profit agency.

The donations will help Project Share stock up for the summer months when donations typically decline, though the need doesn’t. “Hunger doesn’t take a holiday,” said Pam Sharp, Project Share director of community engagement. “The need for our emergency food program is year round, and we really rely on our community to help us meet that need.”

Read more in the Niagara Falls Review

Boosters Put Best Feet Forward for Hospice Niagara and McNally House

When Alicia Lamb-Price died in 2010, her friends and family were there. Not just the few family members admitted during visiting hours of a hospital, but all of them, for the days leading up to her death. They lined the halls and rooms of Hospice Niagara’s Stabler Centre to see off the gregarious 25-year-old mother of one.

“She was literally the light that lit up a room,” said her sister, Amanda Lowry, who on Saturday continued a nine-year tradition of participating in Hike for Hospice, supporting Hospice Niagara. The event raised $112,000 for Hospice Niagara.

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Sidewalk and Street Patios to Pop Up in Port Colborne

At least six eligible businesses in Port Colborne will have pop-up patios this year that will be allowed to extend on sidewalks and parking stalls during the warmer months. “Pop-up patios will encourage residents and visitors to come and enjoy the amazing restaurants, coffee shops and establishments we have here in Port Colborne,” said Mayor Bill Steele.

At the end of patio season, city staff will assess the project and make recommendations for moving forward in 2020. The city said businesses are allowed to operate the patios between May 1 and October 31.

Read more in the Welland Tribune

Fashion, Food and Dance Kick Off Niagara Folk Arts Festival

The first day of the Niagara Folk Arts Festival was held Saturday at Robertson Hall on Church Street in St. Catharines. The festival kickoff included exhibits, fashion and dancing representing cultures from all over the world. The night concluded with Taste Oh Canada, a sampling of traditional Canadian food.

On Sunday the first of a series of open houses at cultural centres was sponsored by the Islamic Society of St. Catharines, at the Masjid An-Noor mosque on Geneva Street. The festival continues through May.

Download Festival Brochure

Dapper Derby Crowd Raises $60,000 for Niagara Charities

Two years ago, Adam Cook was looking for a way to honour his dad, Jan, who died in 2016. He thought he could stage a memorial event of some kind. He and Kay Meilleur, marketing director for Meridian Centre, talked it over. She made a suggestion, he liked it, and they were off to the races.

On Saturday, they raised more than $60,000 for local charities through Niagara Derby Day — the memorial to Jan Cook that is part fashion show and party, part Kentucky Derby celebration. The $60,000 collected this year will go toward Family and Children’s Services Niagara, Niagara Children’s Centre and Community Care.

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Two National Awards for Standard Reporter Grant LaFleche

St. Catharines Standard journalist Grant LaFleche’s reporting in the All the Chair’s Men series was recognized as Canada’s best — two times — over the weekend. Saturday at the Canadian Association of Journalists convention in Winnipeg, LaFleche won in the community media category for his investigative work that uncovered wrongdoing among senior staff at Niagara Region.

The night before at the National Newspaper Awards ceremony in Toronto, LaFleche received the George Brown Award for Investigations, for the same series. Last month at the Ontario Newspaper Awards, LaFleche was named the province’s top journalist of 2018, and also won the enterprise reporting prize.

Read more in the St. Catharines Standard

If you’re thinking of adding group benefits to your company, there are a lot of good reasons to put your Chamber membership to work for you. Not the least is exclusivity: only members have access to the Chambers of Commerce Group Insurance Plan®.

To contact your local insurance rep, call Jim Garrett or Cindy Haines at 905-468-8575

Try the purest, freshest water available — one month absolutely FREE. Experience the taste of clean water AND discover why so many homes, schools, and businesses love H2Only… it’s the service. No contracts, no set schedules. You call, we deliver the following business day. That simple since 1995.

Contact: 905-934-0966
sales@h2only.ca www.h2only.ca

MEMBER 2 MEMBER SAVINGS PROGRAM

Many other Chamber of Commerce members feature discounts and special offers — tailored specifically for other GNCC members. Check out the full Member 2 Member database. If you’d like to add an offer for your company, sign in to your account. You can add and update your offer any time you wish.

BUSINESS SAVINGS PROGRAMS

The GNCC offers many business resources that are regionally, provincially or nationally endorsed – programs offered to Chamber Members through the OCC (Ontario Chamber of Commerce) or the CCC (Canadian Chamber of Commerce). Affinity programs include the Chamber Group Insurance, FedEx savings, Gales Gas discounts, Desjardins payroll service, Chase Paymentech and FirstData merchant services, etc. For more information click HERE.

If your organization is interested in partnering with the GNCC on an affinity program, please feel free to reach out to Mishka Balsom, CEO, at mishka@gncc.ca.

GNCC REFERRAL PROGRAM

From the beginning, the GNCC has grown because of your word-of-mouth support.

This Referral Program is our way of saying thanks.

Get your choice of a $25 Starbucks Gift Card for every new member you refer and who joins the Chamber -OR- $50 in GNCC Cash for every new member you refer and joins the Chamber towards GNCC ads, sponsorship or event tickets.

More program information HERE.