WEEKLY NEWS - OCTOBER 2016
October 18, 2016   


SMALL BUSINESS WEEK
October 16 - 22, 2016
We are celebrating Small Business Week! And honouring our business community. You are part of the 90% of small and medium size industry that is Canada's economic growth, job creation and innovation. The chamber is hosting two events this week, a small business luncheon,
Tuesday, October 18th
sponsored by ATB Financial and featuring guest speaker, Qasim Rasi, Director of Marketing Strategic Markets; the topic is "Demystifying Alberta's Innovation and Export resources to build globally competitive companies".

Doors open at 11:30 am at The Links, a buffet lunch is served and the chamber will also be presenting their nomination slate for the 2017 board of directors.

Our grand finale to the week is the Chambers of Commerce Awards Gala, Saturday, October 22nd at the Horizon Stage. 120 Nominations were received for 7 awards. The three finalists in each category will be honoured. 
Enjoy Small Business Week and celebrate by joining us at these events.
You are Invited..
In less than one week, we will be celebrating our business community in a grand way. The 2016 Spruce Grove Chamber of Commerce Awards Gala is an exciting event that takes many hands to support. We are thrilled to be a part of it, and we would like to invite our members to participate at our Gala Awards Event in celebration of Small Business Week. There are many short, yet important positions available through our sign-up sheet. Simply click on the link below to be a part of the celebration:

We continue to actively seek silent auction items. This is an important part of our non-dues revenue generation and we appreciate your support in submitting exciting items or experiences to add to our Gala. We sincerely thank you for your consideration and we hope you can join us on October 22nd at Horizon Stage!
FREE SHIPPING TUESDAYS
Say hello to your new favourite day.  Every Tuesday in October, get a free online shipment anywhere in Canada. You'll need our weekly promo code. To get ready for Free Shipping Tuesday:
  • Sign up for Canada Post Solutions for Small Business™. Already a member - with an online user name? Then you're good to go.
  • Find your promo code on this page, every Tuesday in October.
Get your ads in!
DEADLINE TO ADVERTISE
OCT 31/16

Factually, 30% of our trade area consumers continue to rely on our printed directory to find you. The chambers community directory is a joint publication of the Spruce Grove and Stony Plain and District Chambers of Commerce. The book is hand delivered door to door in the city and the town and via Canada post to rural Parkland County. An advertisement in the Chambers Community Directory provides you with positioning in 30,000 distributed books, a digitized ad on the chamber website, an enhanced business directory listing on the website (a $260.00 value) and the community will find your business in the NEW COMMUNITY APP! 
Call Dianne at 780-962-2561 or email  Dianne  for more information.  
UPCOMING EVENTS

Oct 18 
11:30am - 1:30pm

Demystifying Alberta's innovation and export resources to build globally competitive companies.
Oct 27
4:30pm Doors
  6:00pm Interview

Join us for our monthly business mixer and informal chat on the last Thursday of the month.  
Guests of members are welcome to attend.  $10 Registration includes complimentary appetizers, and your choice of one select beer, house wine, or highballs to enjoy.

Oct 30
Workshop - Level One Canine Behaviour
6:00 - 9:00pm

If you are interested in volunteering, fostering or adopting from Pit Bulls for Life or just want to learn about dogs register today!
Provincial Political Parties speak to
 Alberta Chambers of Commerce delegates
Brian Jean
Greg Clark
David Swan

All opposition parties were represented at ACC's annual Political Action Day, hosted at Sutton Place, Thursday, October 13th. Gregg Clark of the Alberta Party told business they were the only party to actually present a shadow budget to the current budget the NDP are operating with. The Alberta Party has identified $2 B. in expenditure savings. The Official Opposition leader, of the Wildrose party, Brian Jean had much to say consistent with the Alberta Party and Liberal Leader David Swan's review of the current state of our province. There was the consistent message from all three re NDP blindly moving towards a $15.00 per hour minimum wage, reflecting on the motivation. If in fact the increase in minimum wage is to raise workers out of poverty these three party leaders agree that there are many other ways to address poverty, by looking at the root causes of poverty; affordable housing, mental health, addiction and education. Raising minimum wage will only slow business growth and lessen worker opportunities. "A 16 year old living at home looking for an entry level job, need experience and training and should be at an $11 - $12 / hr. pay rate - At $15.00 per hour they are not going to get hired," as business cannot afford that rate to train the inexperienced. A recent survey of the Restaurant Association of Alberta indicates that 78% of restaurants will decrease hours and cut staff.

The referencing to the NDP gov't continuing to layer on costs to business was also consistent in messaging. With soon to be implemented carbon tax, arbitrary rule changes (i.e. pending law suit with electricity providers), Investor Tax caps, potential review of the Alberta Labour Code and the new Climate Change Policy, all of which may have unintended consequences lends to a provincial government that is driving a wedge between them and business.

There was much discussion about the "Unite the Right" initiative that former federal Minister Jason Kenney want to bring to the leadership race for the Alberta PC party. The PC convention in March of 2017 will prove interesting where you have Jason Kenny looking to unite the PC party and the Wildrose and the four other potential candidates wanting to preserve the provincial conservative party.
We live in interesting times; there appears to be more public political engagement than the province has had in decades. There is also the impending U.S. election that may not be a win for Canada with either candidate elected. The U.S. is our biggest competitor when it comes to oil and gas and the future is not looking promising for any new pipelines to tidewater. Even when the Trans Mountain pipeline gets the go, it allows only extra capacity on an existing line.

One of the questions from the floor to the spokesperson for the NDP government addressed "What is the Alberta Advantage?"

NEWS WE ARE FOLLOWING   Oct 13, 2016 by Alberta Venture Staff
A snapshot of small businesses' impact on the Alberta economy
Small and medium-sized businesses are leaders in job creation nationwide

Premier Rachel Notley and Minister of Finance Joe Ceci make a latte at a small business in Edmonton in April. The government will cut the small-business tax rate from three per cent to two per cent in January, but other moves - like increasing the minimum wage - have hurt the sector
Small businesses are big news, and getting bigger. Nationwide, small and mid-sized businesses (SMEs) accounted for the vast majority of new jobs created between 2005 and 2015 - 87.7 per cent of them, according to a recent study by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. Together, SMEs - defined by the agency as those with fewer than 500 employees - employ 8.2 million people in the country, or 70.5 per cent of the private labour force.

And SMEs are particularly prominent in Alberta, with 50 of them per 1,000 adults, the highest ratio of any province.

Long-term Trends
Economic diversification is always part of the discussion in Alberta. And it has - barely - happened over the last decade. Here, the percentage of the province's manufacturing sector that derives from oil and gas, related activities, and non-related activities.

2006
 2016
Gas/diesel/jet fuel
21%
20%
Plastics/chemicals/fabricated metal
40%
 36%
Not oil/gas related, so food products, paper and wood products
39%
43%
Toronto drives price rise as Vancouver idles
October 13, 2016 by D'Arcy McGovern
With the brakes on in Vancouver's real estate market, Toronto's 2.2 per cent rise in housing prices led the country in September.

"Toronto is now the red hot market," says National Bank senior economist Marc Pinsonneault. "[Toronto] home sales broke records in each of the last three months." Prices rose in six of the 11 metropolitan markets surveyed, led by Toronto, Hamilton (1.4 per cent) and Victoria (1.1 per cent).

Vancouver managed a 0.2 per cent gain - the 21st straight month without a decline. Overall, prices were up 0.8 per cent in September, with the composite index up 11.7 per cent from a year earlier, for an eighth consecutive month of acceleration and the largest 12-month increase since June 2010. Read more



Della Saunders,  Marketing Coordinator
Spr uce Grove Chamber of Commerce 
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