Guelph Chamber of Commerce Connection

Guelph Chamber and Innovation Guelph Open House Slide Show

Last Tuesday the Guelph Chamber of Commerce and Innovation Guelph held our Open House.  If you were not one of the 400 or so that made their way through, you can check out the slide show here.  What a great time.  You can still drop by any time. 

Members of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce now have their choice of three Board rooms for their use to meet clients, or have offsite meetings, at no additional cost to membership fees.  And the rooms are amazing.  Please check them out for yourself!

Guelph READS!

The Friends of Guelph Public Library held an event last night:  Guelph Reads. 

The books that were defended were:

Life In the Backwoods by Suzanna Moodie, defended by Lloyd Longfield

Take the High Road by Terry Fallis, defended by Mayor Farbridge

Cigar Box Banjo by Paul Quarrington, defended by James Gordon

and the winner was..... Life in the Backwoods.  The book all of Guelph should be reading.  Written in 1830's by Suzanna Moodie - her reflections on settling into Canada living in the backwoods for four years before moving into the city.  She went into the backwoods as an English immigrant, and came out a Canadian.  There is a great discussion piece in which a tornado going through Guelph in 1829 is mentioned - barely missing John Galt's house after crossing the Speed River and heading up Eramosa Road making it impassible by twisted trees blocking the way. 

Apart from that a great perspective on the emerging Canadian personality of collaboration, surviving and thriving regardless of the challenges faced.  It is a free download for Kobo, and is also available at the Guelph Public Library.

 

Emerging Stronger

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce has recently published “Emerging Stronger - A Transformative Agenda for Ontario”. This document aligns well with the work of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce and our partners at the City of Guelph and education institutions. The priorities for Ontario’s future prosperity have been outlined in the Emerging Stronger document, and centre around five key areas:

1) Fostering a culture of innovation and smart risk-taking in order to become a productivity leader

Ontario’s innovation gap is a major barrier to increasing productivity and prosperity. Last year the Guelph Chamber of Commerce helped to launch Innovation Guelph, part of the Ontario Network of Excellence, located within the Chamber of Commerce Business Center along with NRC-IRAP and the University of Guelph. Guelph business is focused on implementing innovation in our community.

2) Building a 21^st century workforce through workforce training, utilizing newcomer’s skills, and apprenticeship reform

Ontario needs to build the skill sets necessary for the knowledge economy. Skilled labour is in short supply, even though unemployment still exists in our community. The Guelph Chamber is working to help align supply and demand for labour, collaborating with education and employment agencies. The Chamber’s Global Experience @Work project is focused on identifying and removing barriers to hiring newcomers.

3) Restoring fiscal balance by improving the way government works

Without balanced budgets, reasonable tax levels, and efficient public services, Ontario will lag behind other jurisdictions. The business community is working with all levels of government to bring business expertise to develop sound strategies, including the use of technologies in healthcare and education and government service delivery.

4) Taking advantage of new opportunities in the global economy

Guelph is developing significant cultural and economic linkages to emerging markets though our business community, the University of Guelph, and our increasing immigrant population. Guelph has long celebrated our diversity, including the Multicultural Festival in June. Diversity has become a strategic advantage in the new economy.

5) Identifying, championing, and strategically investing in our competitive advantages in the global economy

Ontario’s economy is undergoing rapid evolution. During the recession, the City of Guelph collaborated with education and business to develop our ten year economic development and tourism strategy: Prosperity 2020. This plan is focused on strategically focusing in our competitive advantages in key sectors. We now need to make global linkages to build on our prosperity.

More information can be found at www.occ.on.ca under Economic Vision.