The Voice of Business in Saskatchewan
action! online
September, 2014
In this issue... • Chamber College • ABEX Community Cornerstone voting underway • Sask Chamber members who made the Top 100 ... and more!
The first annual Chamber College was held last month! Present were (L-R) Linda Machniak (Battlefords), Darla Lindbjerg (Swift Current), Martin Tourand (Carlyle), Betty Hutchinson (La Ronge), Shellan Baranieski (Nipawin), Jeff Richards (Weyburn), Rachelle Casavant (Tisdale), Merle Lacert (Prince Albert), Jaimie Malmgren (Warman), Ernie Quintal (Warman), Heather Wall (Kindersley), Debra Nyczai (Humboldt), Pat Perkins (Kindersley) and Glen Hall (Assiniboia)
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Get in Touch Tel: 306.352.2671 Email:
[email protected]
CEO’s Message Tell us your stories and those of your employees....let the country hear that immigration is a great thing for Saskatchewan! Over the past hundred years, people have immigrated to and have been made to feel welcome in Saskatchewan. In fact, aside from the First Nations people, we are all immigrants or descendants of immigrants. There should be no question - economically, socially, culturally and ethically, we need to welcome newcomers to this province. Think of the expertise offered by many of our physicians and nurses who have come from overseas or the people who have served us in restaurants and retail stores. We have met these people in our schools, businesses and neighbourhoods and I believe that in most cases, they have been made to feel welcome. Unfortunately there is a small but vocal group of people who are ‘ignorant of facts’, who post online comments while hiding behind made-up names, who say that we don’t need newcomers or that they are taking jobs away from Canadians. They spread lies about Saskatchewan businesses, claiming that they hire immigrants to lower their payroll costs. None of these things are true! We at the SCC want to hear the truth. We want to hear from you about your experience and success in employing immigrants. We want to hear from the newcomers themselves. Our goal is to ensure that the intelligent and fact seeking Saskatchewan people hear the truth in your voice. I encourage you to send me an email or letter outlining the importance of newcomers in your workforce, even if their number is small. Ask your immigrant employees if they will write to us to tell us their story: how does it feel living and working in Saskatchewan? We plan to publish these letters and stories to get the message out loud and clear. We will not publish your name, or your workers’ names, without permission.
Saskatchewan people need to hear from the silent majority. Our federal government and all of the federal parties need to hear the truth. In recent months it appears they either ignored it or have simply chosen to work on ignorance. I will repeat this request again, but please do not wait to be asked twice. Without the full and complete truth being made available, the lies and ignorance will remain and be assumed by some as the truth; please don’t let that be the case. Write to me today and ask your immigrant employees to do the same. The Sask Chamber has a survey on the impact of TFW program changes at https://www. surveymonkey.com/s/TFWChanges. Please feel free to give your input there, or by email or letter to me personally. My address email:
[email protected] Mailing address: 1630 - 1920 Broad St, Regina SK S4P 3V2.
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First-ever Chamber College takes place in Saskatoon The inaugural class of the Chamber College took place in Saskatoon on August 26th and 27th. Along with the Chamber of Commerce Executives of Saskatchewan, we welcomed 11 local Chamber staff and Board members to join us for “Chamber College Level 1”. Taking in all the chamber knowledge were (clockwise from top left): Jamie Malmgren and Ernie Quintal (both from Warman Chamber); Rachelle Casavant (Tisdale Chamber) and Debra Nyczai (Humboldt); session facilitators Merle Lacert (Prince Albert Chamber), Linda Machniak (Battlefords Chamber) and Jeff Richards (Weyburn Chamber); and Martin Tourand (Carlyle Chamber) and Heather Wall (Kindersley Chamber). Congratulations to all who attended!
New ABEX Award voting is online Now you can become actively involved with selecting this year’s ABEX Winner for the new Community Cornerstone Award, sponsored by SaskEnergy. This award recognizes classic Saskatchewan businesses that might otherwise go unheralded, but are real cornerstones of their communities, having had a longstanding history in the town or city, and making significant contributions to them. This year’s finalists are: • Carlyle’s Prairie Dog Drive-In • furnaceguys Home Heating & Cooling from Saskatoon • Madill’s Drugs from Meadow Lake
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Prince Albert’s Ted Matheson Men’s Wear George Home Hardware from Meadow Lake.
These unofficial ‘ambassadors’ for their communities are now in contention to take home the most prestigious and longstanding symbol of business success within the province - the ABEX Award. But they’re going to need your help to do it! You can see the finalists’ videos and register to vote once a day at www.abexcornerstone.com! Then get your tickets to the event November 1, 2014 at the Delta Regina Hotel, at www.saskchamber.com. See you there!
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LEGISLATIVE REPORT By Curtis Hemming On August 25, the Government of Saskatchewan and Government of Canada both signed the CanadaSaskatchewan Job Fund Agreement which allows federal Canada Job Grant (CJG) money to be made available in this province. This funding will be used to help pay for Saskatchewan’s workers to receive new training so that they will be able to either get a job or a better job than the one they currently have.
Overall the sessions were very successful and the Ministry received a lot of useful feedback about how they should communicate the details about the program to businesses, what kinds of eligibility checklists they should provide on the Government of Saskatchewan website, as well as some of the concerns about how this program can be effectively used in a province with ongoing low unemployment rates.
Since Saskatchewan is facing an ongoing labour shortage, any new funding to provide training for unemployed or underemployed people is useful, as long as the program is actually used by both employers and employees.
The SCC will continue to work with the Ministry of the Economy and its member businesses over the coming months to ensure that the CJG is used as fully as possible, but will also advocate to the federal government that Saskatchewan’s ability to attract immigrants should not be unduly hindered by decisions made in Ottawa.
At the end of July, the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce (SCC) hosted three consultation sessions (Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert) in conjunction with staff from the Government of Saskatchewan’s Ministry of the Economy to gather feedback from businesses on how the recent Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) changes were impacting their businesses, as well as feedback on how they were expecting to use the new CJG program. Approximately 25 businesses and associations attended each of the consultation sessions and the feedback toward the recent TFWP changes was generally negative, since many of the industries represented were ones that experience chronic labour shortages and immigration has been one of the only ways for them to alleviate their staffing issues. The SCC gave a presentation at the beginning of each of the sessions to provide the attendees with an update on the Chamber’s activities in response to the TFWP changes, as well as some of our ongoing questions and concerns about the CJG. The Ministry of the Economy staff also gave a presentation during each of the sessions to describe what kinds of training will be eligible under the new CJG program, in addition to providing other details about the program and how businesses will be able to apply.
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Members in the News Vale’s Kronau Project is undergoing the final feasibility studies (sometimes referred to as construction planning) and the company is continuing to search for suitable partners. The outcome of these studies will determine whether the project will move ahead. To learn more about the project, see their website at http://www.vale.com
hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/business/sara-lives-dreamin-canada-s-boomtown-1-6796624) and is the cover story of Women Business Owners Today (Summer 2014 issue) at http://issuu.com/dcom/docs/wbot-ezine-summer-2014-saskatchewan. Sara also co-founded the Little Red Dress Club, a fundraising and networking group of local entrepreneurs, which has since 2012 raised tens of thousands of dollars for local causes.
SRC has released its economic impact results for the 2013-14 fiscal year, and have shown that for every dollar the province invested in SRC this year, the council provided a greater than 21x return to the growth of the Saskatchewan economy, translating into more than $413 million in direct economic benefits to the province. SRC’s work also contributed to the creation or maintenance of more than 1,900 jobs in Saskatchewan, valued at more than $126 million. Since 2003, SRC has achieved more than $5.8 billion in combined economic and job impacts in Saskatchewan.
Valerie Sluth of Praxis Consulting was also featured in the Women Business Owners Today e-magazine.
Innovation Saskatchewan is involved as a sponsor and at the committee level in The International Festival of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEMfest), to be held at Prairieland Park Convention Centre in Saskatoon September 27 - October 3, 2015. The theme for STEMfest 2015 is “Skilling a Nation’s Future - Aligning STEM Education to a State’s Future Human Resource Needs”. To learn more, to register or to participate as a sponsor, visit the website at http:// www.stemstates.org/stemfest-2015. The Saskatchewan Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Commission will increase fees from $75 for each week of apprenticeship technical training to $85 per week in most programs, effective January 1, 2015. This revenue will be applied directly to the purchase of technical training seats. For more information, please contact the Saskatchewan Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Commission or see its website at www.saskapprenticeship.ca.
Congratulations to Louis Dreyfus Commodities Yorkton, which recently marked its 100th - 100 car train milestone. LDC shipped its first 100 car unit on April 7, 2011 and shipped its 100th 100 car unit on June 11, 2014. The Regina & District Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Ministry of Economy, will hold a tour called Destination Canada 2014 to France, Belgium and Tunisia this November. For more information on this unique opportunity to recruit temporary or permanent workers, call Richelle Bourgoin at 306.787.8153 or email
[email protected]. Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC), in partnership with the Saskatchewan Tourism Education Council, has released the results of the UPSKILL: Essentials to Excel project, which establishes a strong business case for well-designed essential skills training programs delivered in the workplace. The results showed that even basic skills training in the workplace can support a meaningful return on investment. To read the report’s highlights click here. To read the summary report, click here. To read the technical report, click here.
The Board of Directors of the Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority (SREDA) recently announced the appointments of Alex L. Fallon as President and Chief Executive Officer and Jim George as Chief Operating Officer. Fallon will join SREDA as CEO on September 10, 2014. George will assume his new role after a year serving as the organization’s Vice President, Business Development and acting as interim President and CEO.
Crescent Point Energy Corp has confirmed it has reached a $378-million deal to buy producing conventional oil assets in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, along with undeveloped land, from Lightstream Resources Ltd. Crescent Point valued those assets at $328-million. The Calgary-based energy company will also receive 44 net sections of undeveloped freehold interests, worth about $50-million, as part of the mostly cash deal. Crescent Point also raised its 2014 forecast, based on the Lightstream deal and other acquisitions made so far this year, along with successful drilling results at its Torquay resource play in Saskatchewan.
Sara Wheelwright, the founder of S&E Trusted Online Directories Inc. (perhaps more familiar as Trusted Saskatoon and Trusted Regina) has garnered significant media attention recently, with a YWCA Women of Distinction Entrepreneur Award, and articles on the Hartlepool Mail website (http://www.
The Minister of Education, Don Morgan, has once again proclaimed September 10 as Youth Safety Education Day for the province of Saskatchewan. This is the only day of its kind in Canada, and it aligns with the 2014 “Improving Workplace Safety for Youth” policy (the full text of which can be found here.)
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Congratulations
to the Saskatchewan Chamber members who made the Saskatchewan Business Magazine’s Top 100 list recently:
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Access Communications Affinity Credit Union Airline Hotels Alliance Energy Ltd. AREVA Resources Canada ASL Paving Ltd. Athabasca Basin Development LP Bennett Dunlop Ford Bourgault Industries Brandt Group of Companies CAA Saskatchewan Cameco Corporation Canpotex Limited Cervus Equipment Concentra Financial Concorde Group Corporation Conexus Credit Union Co-operators Life Insurance Company Doepker Industries Dream Unlimited Corporation Farm Credit Canada Flaman Group of Companies
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Graham Group Ltd. Hill Companies Hitachi Power Systems Canada Ltd. Information Services Corporation Innovation Credit Union Jay Dee AgTech Legumex Walker Canda Inc. Magna Electric Corporation Millsap Fuel Distributors Mosaic Canada North Prairie Developments Ltd. North Ridge Development Corporation P&H Milling Group PCL Construction Management Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Redhead Equipment Saskatchewan Blue Cross Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority
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Saskatchewan Municipal Hail Insurance Saskatchewan Roughriders Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board Saskcan Pulse Trading SaskEnergy SaskPower SaskTel SGI Siemens Transportation Group Star Egg Company Supreme Office Products Thyssen Mining Construction of Canada Viterra Warman Home Centre West Wind Group of Companies Yara Belle Plaine Young’s Equipment Inc.
Welcome to our new members! CIMA + Canada Inc. Saskatoon http://www.CIMA.ca
Doubletree by Hilton Regina http://www.silverbirchhotels.com
MHPM Project Managers Inc. Saskatoon http://www.mhpm.com
Galt Resources Dundurn http://galtrsources.com
Worley Parsons Canada Saskatoon http://www.worleyparsons.com
Thank you to our renewing members in August! Your continued support of the Chamber movement makes it possible for us to achieve on your behalf, and we want you to know we appreciate you as members! • • • •
Anderson Pump House Benson Trithardt Noren Travelodge Regina Helicopter Transport Services
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Jay Dee AgTech Hydratec Hydraulics Knibbs & Associates Cameco TNC Mall Property Holdings Triple A Directional Drilling PB Impression in Threads Good Spirit Air 3sHealth MacKenzie Art Gallery Young’s Equipment M & M Equipment Houghton Boston Printers Econo lumber McElhanney Consulting Services
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Radio CJVR SIAST International Minerals Innovation Inst. Meridian Surveys Cliff Nankivel Trucking Balgonie Holsteins Amalgamated Charities Tesco Industries TCU Place CAPP Key Chevrolet Cadillac Western Potash
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Have you voted for your ABEX Community Cornerstone Finalist yet? Register and vote daily at
www.abexcornerstone.com
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2014 Pre-Budget Survey Complete it Today The Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce is preparing to provide input to the Minister of Finance on behalf of our members for the 2015/16 Provincial budget. We are collecting your input today through the 2014 Pre-Budget Survey. Your thoughts are important as we look to influence what might be the last budget of this government’s term, as well as the planning for the upcoming election. Please take the time to complete this survey. You can complete it before September 12th, 2014 at https://www.surveymonkey.com/ s/2014PreBudgetSurvey Thank you for your time.
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2015 going to be a busy year? Hire a SIAST Co-operative Education business student from our Accountancy, Administration, Marketing and Human Resources diplomas. Work terms begin January 2015 and recruitment is underway. Please contact Shelley Ruecker: 306-691-8322
[email protected]
Significant Positive Changes to the Saskatchewan Chamber’s Policy Development Process By Kristin McKee, Director of Policy Development
The Saskatchewan Chamber’s conventional policy development process, which put anywhere from 20-30 policy recommendations in front of the membership, public and government at the exact same time, created a series of challenges. Difficulty getting a broad base of input into the development of each policy position, identifying priorities for the government, and building general awareness of the Chamber’s concerns and recommendations were some of the concerns with having so many issues tackled at the same time. We needed a more concise approach. Prior to the design of a new process, the SCC’s Board of Directors identified two key components it wanted to retain from the existing system: leadership by the Expert Committees and extensive member input and endorsement. Beyond this, any option which would provide greater timeliness and improved manageability was considered. The process that emerged is one unique to chambers of commerce in Canada and one that we believe will position the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce as an even more reliable expert and a resource to the business community as issues emerge and situations change. The steps for the new process are as follows: Step 1: Members, Committees or staff will identify an issue for which a new policy position is required. Step 2: The issue will be directed to the appropriate Expert Committee for discussion, input and, if appropriate, policy creation (where a policy is submitted by a member or Chamber, the Expert Committee most linked to the issue would review it). Step 3: All Committees would report on issues they are working on or policies being developed to the entire membership through the monthly issues of Action Online. Input is invited on any and all policies/ issues from the membership. The Board will hold 3-4 membership roundtables across the province annually to report on activities, gather input on policies being developed, and report on action/outcomes on current policies. Step 4: Upon final review of the Expert Committee, a policy will now go to the next meeting of the SCC Board for review and approval, amendment or rejection. Step 5: After a policy has been approved by the Board it will be advocated to the appropriate government officials by staff and Committee/Board as appropriate. Step 6: The policy component of the Conference on Business will now serve as an opportunity to provide information on current policies and even more importantly, the outcomes of the policy directives. The members will be asked at that session to formally ratify the decisions of the Board in the past year, including policies.
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This new approach offers numerous advantages over the existing policy development process. Specifically, the expertise of the Expert Committees will now be used throughout the year as Changes to the Saskatchewan Chamber’s opposed to just during the months leading up to May, member feedback will be more actively Policy Development Process (cont’d) solicited in local communities with local chamber involvement, and the Chamber will have a stronger more responsive mandate. We are going to make the “Voice of Business” even louder in Saskatchewan. Our first series of the policy roundtables will be happening in Weyburn, Saskatoon, Regina and Swift Current in November, and our Expert Committees are open to your input and This new approach offers numerous advantages over the existing policy development process. recommendations now. Please contact Kristin McKee, Director of Policy Development Specifically, the expertise of the Expert Committees will now be used throughout the year as opposed to (
[email protected]) for more information. We looking forward to hearing from you as just during the months leading up to May, member feedback will be more actively solicited in local this exciting new process unfolds. communities with local chamber involvement, and the Chamber will have a stronger more responsive mandate. We are going to make the “Voice of Business” even louder in Saskatchewan. Our first series of the policy roundtables will be happening in Weyburn, Saskatoon, Regina and Swift Current in November, and our Expert Committees are open to your input and recommendations now. Please contact Kristin McKee, Director of Policy Development (
[email protected]) for more information. We looking forward to hearing from you as this exciting new process unfolds.
Dawn – Place this is a feature box The new policy process flowchart:
Ongoing
Quarterly Review
Ongoing
Conference on Business
Members
Expert Committees
Board
Communicate to Members as Approved Committees Report on Actions. Members approve "the actions of the Board including policies."
Task Forces
Broad Impact Strategic Plan Values & Mission
Timing
2 | P a g e
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action! online is a monthly membership e-publication of the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce.
CHAMBER STAFF Steve McLellan CEO
[email protected]
Jesse Chatterson Director of Member Services
[email protected]
Marilyn Leier Administrative Assistant
[email protected]
Elissa LaLiberte Director of Membership Services
[email protected]
Kristin McKee Director of Policy Development
[email protected]
Cindy Wright Director of Special Events
[email protected]
Curtis Hemming Director of Government Relations
[email protected]
Dawn M. Barker Director of Communications
[email protected]
CHAMBER BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chair - Bruce Anderson (b-creative group) 1st Vice-Chair - Randy Beattie (PFM Capital Inc.) nd 2 Vice-Chair - Shawna Nelson (Sheraton Cavalier Saskatoon) Immediate Past-Chair - Marion Ghiglione (Handy Group of Companies) Directors Cam Cooper (Praxis Analytics) Andrew Geary (Deloitte LLP) Trina Warren (MNP LLP) Greg Hanwell (Beer Bros. Gastropub & Deli) Patricia Warsaba (McKercher LLP) Ricardo Silva (Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Canada) Sean Young (Young’s Equipment) Monica Kreuger (Global Infobrokers Inc.) Michael Cossar (Saskatoon)
1630 - 1920 Broad Street Regina, SK S4P 3V2 www.saskchamber.com Get in Touch Tel: 306.352.2671 Email:
[email protected]
