Bartering His Way to Success

There’s a thing called the coincidence of wants, says John Porter. For a bartered transaction to be successful, both parties need to want what the other has, at the same time and same value, explained the 42-year-old Lincoln resident. “That’s how business used to be done thousands of years ago.”

It’s also a system of commerce often used to this day, although it can require a bit of deal-making to be successful. And earlier this year, Porter — the founder and chief executive officer of BarterPay Canada — bartered his way to making a dream come true.

Read more in the St. Catharines Standard

Public Meeting on Niagara Region Governance

As part of a Niagara Region Independent External Governance Audit approved by Regional Council, Dr. Andrew Sancton and Dr. Tim Cobban are hosting a public meeting on November 28 at 6:30pm to seek community input on Niagara Region Governance.

This feedback will be used to assist Dr. Sancton in developing recommendations and advice to Niagara Region and Regional Council on how to improve and enhance organizational and governance practices. The event is open to all Niagara residents.

Find out more

Niagara College Nominates Distinguished Alumni for 2018 Premier’s Awards

Seven distinguished members of Niagara College’s alumni community have been nominated for Colleges Ontario’s prestigious 2018 Premier’s Awards. The Premier’s Awards celebrate the outstanding social and economic contributions that college graduates make to Ontario and throughout the world.

One nominee is recent graduate Shane Malcolm, Executive Director of Leadership Niagara, who is Niagara College’s former Student Administrative Council president. The other nominees include Julia Falvo, Miriam Laundry, Scot Filer, Mark Montefiore, Blaine Lucas, and Darl Crick.

Find out more

Volunteers Needed for Five Elves Yuletide Tour

Red Roof Retreat is looking for volunteers for the Five Elves Yuletide Tour. They are excited to be one of the recipients of this annual festive fundraiser, which has participants visiting Twenty Valley wineries and enjoying activities and wine at each location. This year’s festival takes place on December 1st and 2nd.

Red Roof Retreat will have a table set up at each participating winery: Vineland Estate Winery, Ridgepoint Wines, Greenlane Estate Winery, Featherstone Wine Company and Malivoire Wine Company. If you can help out for a few hours, please contact Karen Post with your availability.

See more volunteer opportunities

Niagara Health Named a Top Employer in Hamilton-Niagara

Niagara Health has been selected as one of Hamilton-Niagara’s Top Employers for 2019. Hamilton-Niagara Top Employers is an annual competition organized by the editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers. This special designation recognizes employers in the area that lead their industries in offering exceptional places to work.

“Our goal is to make the experience of working or volunteering at our hospital sites the best it can be through a wide range of programs and initiatives,” said Niagara Health President Suzanne Johnston. “Our teams are given the support and opportunity they need to continually learn and improve. Our respectful culture supports teams of problem solvers who think big, are innovative, adaptive and resilient.”

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Niagara Casinos Named Top Employer For Ninth Year

In celebration with their 4,200 employees, Niagara Casinos was awarded Hamilton-Niagara’s Top Employer for the ninth consecutive year by the editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers. “We know that our employees are critical to our company’s success,” said Richard Taylor, president of Niagara Casinos. “We treat our employees as our customers — which in turn positively impacts the service they provide and contributes to our strong business results.”

The national competition evaluates organizations on eight categories: Physical Workplace, Work Atmosphere and Social, Health, Financial and Family Benefits, Vacation and Time Off, Employee Communications, Performance Management, Training and Skills Development and Community Involvement.

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Minister Ng Discusses How the Fall Economic Statement Helps Canadian Businesses with GNCC Members

The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion, joined Chris Bittle, Member of Parliament for St. Catharines, for a roundtable with members of the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce on November 22 to discuss the Fall Economic Statement and how it will benefit local small and medium-sized businesses by helping them grow, expand into new markets and create good middle-class jobs.

New measures will help bring Canada’s marginal effective tax rate to 13.8%, the lowest among the G7 countries, and will strengthen Canada’s economy, attract investment and grow the middle class. The Fall Economic Statement is the next step in the Government’s plan to strengthen the middle class and build an economy that works for everyone.

Read more from Cision

Business Applauds Trudeau’s Tax Relief But Says More Could Be Done

Justin Trudeau spent a windfall on billions in tax breaks for Canadian businesses. Their response: He still has work to do. Finance Minister Bill Morneau unveiled a fiscal update Wednesday in Ottawa with $14 billion in temporary writeoffs for capital investment, a pledge to slash red tape, some direct cash for businesses and a push to boost export markets.

It was all meant as a bold response to warnings about Canada’s fading competitiveness, particularly after U.S. President Donald Trump cut U.S. corporate taxes. On average, the measures will reduce the marginal tax rate on new investment to 13.8 per cent, from 17 per cent currently, keeping an advantage over a U.S. rate of 18.7 per cent, according to government calculations.

Read more in the Toronto Star

Ottawa Proposes Sweeping Review of Canada’s Regulatory Regime to Consider ‘Efficiency and Economic Growth’

The federal government said on November 21 it could soon require regulators to consider “efficiency and economic growth” in their mandates, potentially marking a fundamental shift in how business regulations are crafted in Canada. The possible change comes in response to business community concerns that Canada’s complicated and slow-moving regulatory regime has caused private sector investment to wane in recent years.

As part of the government’s fall economic statement Wednesday, finance minister Bill Morneau promised to review the existing legislation that governs how federal departments and agencies craft regulations for everything the government does, from food safety inspections to approving applications to build pipelines.

Read More in the National Post

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

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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.