YEAR IN REVIEW

A Synopsis of The Cranbrook Chamber's Accomplishments

• Hosted Roundtables for Business – Mental health, Addiction, Homelessness
• Roundtable with BC Restaurant/Food Beverage Association
• Kootenay Chamber Caucus – Representatives from the Chambers in the Kootenay Boundary Region gathered to discuss issues facing our region and develop collaborative opportunities to support business in the region.
• BC Chamber Policy Sessions 
• Participated in Downtown Revitalization, Official Community Plan, & was a member of the steering committee for the Tourism Master Plan
• 3rd year delivering Step Code education (Partnered with Fortis BC)
• Turkey Drive Fundraiser – Smashed goal again for 3rd year in a row!
• Successful Shop Local Campaign – 3rd year in operation

From all of us here at the Chamber, we want to send out a heartfelt Thank You to all of our new and long-term members. We value your support, feedback, and ideas – for building a better community together. We've had another year full of changes and challenges... and we again witnessed the community embrace one another, and remind us why we all choose to live and work in Cranbrook BC.

FOOD BUSINESS PLANNING WORKSHOP

For start-up and small-scale

food processors planning to grow, and farmers developing value-added products!

Cost: $100 per person

Includes: Digital planning binder, planning templates & worksheets, lunch, snacks.

The Project Zero Incubator provides early-stage business ideas and organizations from across BC with access to coaching, workshops, and resources to help them get established.

The incubator program is specifically catered to entrepreneurs, businesses and non-profits that seek to support a circular future that has a lower impact on our planet. Idea categories that would be a good fit for this program include:

• ​Upcycling waste materials into new products
• Products designed with a closed loop and/or waste-free cycle
• Renewable energy
• Clean technology that reduces energy or waste 
• Repair economy
• Sharing economy
• Product as a service model (leasing to reduce waste and extend life of products) 

Learn More »

The Wasa Lake Triathlon & Events has been a local event since 1993.

The first 10 years of the event were very basic and low-key. The event was then taken over and operated for almost 20 yrs by Charlie Cooper who worked hard to build the event into the largest triathlon event in Western BC! Establishing a reputation of quality and high standards that has drawn in many athletes and volunteers over the years.

The event weekend continues to grow and now hosts events for kids and adults of a variety of abilities from newbie to pro, ages 4+. It takes almost 200 volunteers to operate, some are local, but most come as family/friends of athletes. For this event to happen and be successful they rely on local businesses, volunteers, and clubs/organizations for support in their operation.

"We work hard to build partnerships with businesses for services and sponsorship. We are always looking for more support, especially for the Kid's event to minimize the cost to participate."

JANUARY 2023 BANK OF CANADA

Monetary Policy Report

The Bank’s outlook for Canada’s economic growth has been revised down: Growth in Canada’s economy is now expected to be slightly better-than-anticipated in 2023 (1.0% from October’s projection of 0.9%). Conversely, the BoC revised down its projections for 2024 (1.8% from 2.0%). As such, the overall level of activity is slowing down over the projection. That said, non-energy commodity exports are expected to grow as supply chain restrictions ease. Oil and gas activity is expected to be moderate in 2023 before picking up again in 2024 with the completion of new expansion projects, which will offset slower consumer spending growth as interest rates rise alongside modest foreign demand.

The pace of economic growth is slowing but demand continues to exceed supply: Canada’s labour market is more resilient than anticipated. The labor market is still tight across a broad range of measures and improvements can already be seen on the supply chain channels. Still, as demand is still outpacing supply, the rise in policy rate is expected to “broaden and moderate” consumer spending on services (especially for housing and big-ticket items) and dampen investment spending in 2023.