By MATTHEW GAUK
Advocate Staff
Almost a third of all policies passed by the Alberta Chambers of Commerce last weekend in Lethbridge were brought forward by the Red Deer Chamber of Commerce.
It was an unprecedented flurry of activity on the provincial level for the Red Deer Chamber, which had nine of the 10 policies it brought forward passed at the ACC annual general meeting.
There were 35 policies presented overall.
“That’s pretty incredible. That rarely happens,” Red Deer Chamber president Dom Mancuso said of the local contribution.
Mancuso pointed out that unlike the chambers of commerce in Edmonton and Calgary, which have paid writers to craft their policies, Red Deer’s are brainstormed and written at the grassroots level through its 10 committees.
“It’s the members themselves; that’s what’s neat about this.”
Included in the nine that passed was a policy that encouraged the stabilization of the hog industry through government reform, and another urging the provincial and federal governments to oppose the protectionist aspects of country-of-origin-labelling (COOL) legislation.
One policy that didn’t pass muster at the board level earlier this year was the incorporation of investment advisers, but this was brought forward and adopted at the provincial meeting.
“What ends up happening is because in every other province they’re incorporated, you can operate your business in British Columbia or Saskatchewan out of there, work in Alberta, but all of your profits go to Saskatchewan or B.C.,” said Mancuso. “That doesn’t make any business sense to us in Alberta. If everybody else is doing it, why are we not allowed to do it?”
The one policy that wasn’t adopted at the provincial level pertained to farmers’ access to equity markets for farmland purchasing. It was referred to the ACC board of directors for further study.
Other policies, such as advocating the elimination of the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly powers over the marketing of Western Canada’s wheat and barley, were amended and renewed at the provincial level for three more years of advocacy.
Aspects of policy, such as the Wheat Board changes, could very well be further pressed at the national level in the fall at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce meeting.
“This is one of the things that will go to the federal level, because it’s federal jurisdiction,” said Mancuso, using the CWB policy as an example of how the local grassroots decision-making can ultimately impact federal government policy. “So now Alberta will push this through for us. They’ll have debate . . . then if it passes, take it to the appropriate minister.”
mgauk@www.reddeeradvocate.com