The Vancouver Board of Trade is seeking approval for a name change this Friday at a Special General Meeting.
“We understand that the Vancouver Board of Trade is proposing to change its name under the Boards of Trade Act to incorporate the words “Greater Vancouver Board of Trade”. As a large Board of Trade in the Greater Vancouver area, the Surrey Board of Trade is not in favour of this proposed change,” said Anita Huberman, CEO, Surrey Board of Trade.
The Surrey Board of Trade appreciates the need for a regional voice of business to facilitate dialogue and action on urgent economic and infrastructure issues. A solution can be to have resources allocated to the BC Chamber of Commerce for this purpose.
A regional voice of business in Metro Vancouver should be derived as collaboration of chambers and boards that work together in a structured way to best represent the interests of the region, either endorsed by or falling under the umbrella of the BC Chamber of Commerce. Individual boards or chambers should not seek to represent the collective interests of all business in the region.
“We emphasize that the role of coordinating such efforts should not come from a single chamber or board such as the Vancouver Board of Trade. The Vancouver Board of Trade does not speak on behalf of the region’s business community.
Organizations such as the BC Chamber of Commerce were established to bring chambers and boards of trade together on issues of common interest. The Surrey Board of Trade will be committed to helping find resources for the BC Chamber to actively dialogue, create action and achieve results with other chamber/board of trade organizations in the region,” said Huberman.
The Surrey Board of Trade believes in the importance of chambers and boards of trade working collectively on issues in common, to show strength and solidarity. The Surrey Board of Trade will work collaboratively on issues of importance while maintaining the organization’s leadership on advocacy issues that will benefit Surrey’s businesses and the City of Surrey.
