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Yorkton Chamber of Commerce Blog Items

While You Worked in Your Business, the Chamber Worked for You

Created on Tuesday, 28 January 2020 02:56 |

A membership in the Chamber of Commerce is an investment in your business. While you’re busy working to grow and expand your business, the Chamber is at work to make sure the business climate is the best it can be. As the “voice of business in Yorkton”, the Chamber has undertaken a number of advocacy efforts on behalf of the local business community and offered a number of educational and networking events. Below is a summary of 2019’s highlights:

Advocacy - Informing the various orders of government when policies or legislation are having an impact on the business community:

Met with City Council twice; Met with Cathay Wagantall, MP; Met twice with Hon. Greg Ottenbreit
Letter to MP and Senate re: the need for the construction of the oil pipeline
Letter to MP and Canadian Chamber of Commerce re: the need to resolve the trade disruption between Canada and China which is negatively impacting sales of canola and other agricultural products important to eastern Saskatchewan producers
Letter to MP and Federal Government and Senate re: carbon tax on energy to dry grain,
Letter to Mayor & Council re; supporting the need for a roundabout at Darlington and Mayhew
Letter to Hon. Lori Carr re: funding to the Yorkton Regional Airport through the Community Airport Program
Attended each City Council meeting to keep informed about the City
Advocated for local businesses on a variety of issues

Education & Networking Events for Members - A number of events were held to enable businesses to network and to learn:

Highly successful first ever Business Summit was held
21st Annual Chamber Business Dinner with John Gormley also a big success
Two Chamber on Tap events with guest speakers Wayne Rusnak and Dave Nussbaumer
All Candidates’ Forum held for the Federal Election
Profiled the young entrepreneurs from the YRHS enrolled in Junior Achievement
Guest Speaker Roy Prevost shared ideas on creating customer service stars
The RCMP and Fire Protective Services talked about their initiatives in the City
Business Lunch Speakers included Hon. Donna Harpauer, Minister of Finance to speak about the Provincial Budget; The Mayor delivered his State of the City Address at the Chamber’s AGM; Ryan Meili, Leader of the Opposition and Trent Wotherspoon shared their visions for the province; Guest speakers from the Global Transportation Hub; Regina Airport Authority; Sask Health Authority; and SAMA
Presentation of 4 Honouray Life Memberships
Videos of members on YouTube and Facebook
Recognition of 20 – 25 year Chamber members
Met with Zagime First Nation; Visited Kahkewistahaw First Nation
Met with new Parkland College CEO Mark Hoddenbagh
Presented a Scholarship to a student enrolled in Business Admin at the College
Began the Chamber Book Club
Signed the Sask Health & Safety Leadership Charter

Category: Yorkton Chamber of Commerce Blog

Honourary Life Members Inducted

Created on Tuesday, 28 January 2020 02:52 |

The induction of Honourary Life Members in the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce first occurred in 1969. The practice was re-established in 2012. According to the Chamber’s Constitution “ Persons who have distinguished themselves by meritorious or public service may be elected Honourary Life Members by majority vote by the Board.

Honourary Life Membership shall include all the privileges of active membership, except that of holding office, with the exemption from paying dues.”

Such Life Membership shall be granted to the individual and not the company.

Donna Brown has been active in the community since 1965. She has volunteered for a variety of organizations and was a member of the Yorkton chapter of the Canadian Red Cross when it developed the city of Yorkton’s first emergency preparedness plan. She served as President of the Yorkton Chamber in 1990 and also served on the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce.

Vern Brown joined Brown Bros Implements in 1965 and was with the company until it closed. Vern has been a member of the Yorkton Lions’ Club for 51 years; serving on its executive and on numerous committees. Donna and Vern provide a quarter of land to the Yorkton Terriers for fundraising.

Janet Hill served as a Yorkton City Councillor for a total of 8 years. She served on the Boards of the East Health Region; the Sunrise Health Region and the Health Foundation. Janet was also involved in the early days of the Yorkton Film Festival and the Lions’ Lobster Fest when they joined forces.

Diane Rusnak, also an avid community volunteer, was a realtor for several years. She has been the Chair of the Health Foundation’s 23 annual galas which together have raised over $634 thousand! Diane received the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal in 2005 in recognition of her volunteer efforts.

Category: Yorkton Chamber of Commerce Blog

Exciting Changes to the 2020 Celebrate Success Business Awards

Created on Tuesday, 28 January 2020 02:47 |

Businesses in Yorkton are resilient and creative. They deserve to be celebrated!.

The 2020 Celebrate Success Business Awards will be held March 25 at St. Mary’s Ukrainian Cultural Centre.

A number of changes have taken place that will help to make these Awards bigger and better than ever before:

You know your business. So the Chamber has moved from a nomination process to an application process. Businesses apply for the awards they feel best suits their business situation
Fillable Application Forms are available online on the Chamber’s website www.yorktonchamber.com OR they can be downloaded, completed and emailed to info@yorktonchamber.com
Point form information. No more writing essays! As they used to say in the old detective movies, “Just the facts, please ma’am!”
New Awards
Business Leader of the Year – no application for this. The recipient will be selected by the Judging Panel

People’s Choice Award – no application for this. Once the Finalists for all the Awards have been announced, Chamber members ONLY will be invited to vote for the business they believe most deserves an Award. Voting will conclude 5:00 PM March 20
Other Awards include: Award of Excellence (3 recipients); Community Involvement; Safety; Property Restoration; Business Growth & Expansion; Young Entrepreneur; New Business Venture; Marketing; and Customer Service. Also for groups and organizations, the Community Merit Award (3 recipients).
A business which received a particular Award in 2016 or anytime before 2016, is eligible to apply for that Award again in 2020 – except the Award of Excellence.
As always, businesses are encouraged to apply for more than one Award
As always, the Awards are open to all businesses – Chamber members or not. However, businesses outside of Yorkton must be Chamber members to apply
Deadline for submitting applications is NOON February 19
The Finalists’ Lunch, the event where the finalists in the Award categories are announced, will be held Wednesday March 4 at the Painted Hand Casino

2020 is the start of a new decade. Wouldn’t it be great if your business began the new decade as an Award recipient? The only way for that to happen is for you to apply for an Award!

Thank you to the following sponsors:

Patron Sponsor: