Resources for Members
Resource Sections: Governance & Administration | Advocacy | Engagement | Empowerment | Resource Library
Administration & Governance
Advocacy Resources
Resources Related to Corporate Tax Issue:
- Consultation Documents supplied by Finance Canada
- Policy Brief prepared by Canadian Chamber of Commerce
- Letter Template - personalize and send to your MP
- Letter Sent to Finance Minister Morneau by the Canadian Chamber & partners
- Policy Primer - Understand the Changes - supplied by Grant Thornton
- Resolution passed by Canadian Chamber: “Stop the Harmful Tax Changes on Private Corporations”
- Sign the e-Petition to Minister of Finance Hon. Bill Morneau and 4 others
- Private company tax proposals: What’s the status? - Brief on October 16 revisions, supplied by Grant Thornton
- Revised proposals to limit income sprinkling - Brief on December 13 revisions, supplied by Grant Thornton
Resources Related to Apprenticeships and Skills Development
Resources Related to Designated Truck Route issue
Resources Related to Value-Added Procurement
- Doing Business with the City of Thunder Bay
- Doing Business with the Province of Ontario
- Doing Business with the Government of Canada
- Emerging Stronger 2015: Ontario’s Path from Recovery to Growth
- Spend Smarter, Not More: Leveraging the Power of Public Procurement
- Best Value for Transportation and Transit Procurement
- Visit the issue page for the most recent news.
Resources Related to Bill 148 - Ontario’s Fair Workplaces & Better Jobs Plan
Understanding and Adopting the New Standards:
- Ontario Ministry of Labour's Comprehensive FAQ
- Ontario Ministry of Labour: Details of Bill 148
- HR Best Practices: Resources from “Shining the Light on Bill 148” Info Session held February 13
- Bill 148 FAQ and Fact Sheet (Special thanks to Weiler, Maloney, Nelson for sharing this valuable information)
- December 7, 2017: Webinar on Bill 148 - Steering Through Change
- October 24, 2017: Steering Through Change Handbook
- July 4, 2017 Info Session with Warren Mouck of Cheadles LLP (FB Live video)
Offsets:
Offsets are designed to assist business in making the transition to the new minimum wage or any of the other changes.
- Ontario will cut its corporate tax rate on the first $500,000 of profits to 3.5 per cent effective Jan. 1, down from the current level of 4.5 per cent, and
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The Employing Young Talent Incentive helps young people find jobs by offering:
- Small businesses with less than 100 employees, an initial $1,000 incentive upon hiring and an additional $1,000 retention incentive after six months for each youth hired through Employment Service.
- Business owners of any size an initial $1,000 incentive after three months of hiring, followed by an additional $1,000 retention incentive after six months, for hiring youth who face barriers to employment through the Youth Job Connection program.
Effects of the Changes:
- May 14, 2018 - Financial Post: Minimum wage hike comes at a steep cost. 'We cannot afford to hire them and survive'
- April 4, 2018 - Study - Thunder Bay Ventures: Insights from Thunder Bay's Perspective
- February 9, 2018 – Financial Post: Canada just lost the most jobs in nine years, with biggest drop on record in part-time work. 88,000 jobs gone — economists had been expecting gain of 10,000
- Jan 03, 2018 - CBC.ca: Minimum wage hikes could cost Canada's economy 60,000 jobs by 2019
- December 2017: Bank of Canada Staff Analytical Note: The Impacts of Minimum Wage Increases on the Canadian Economy
- November 22, 2017 – Financial Post: Metro plans to scale back store hours, extend e-commerce service in Ontario. Metro has said it expects to incur $45-$50 million in extra costs in 2018 from the minimum wage hike in Ontario…
- November 16, 2017 – tbnewswatch.com: Boys and Girls Club create poker run to offset minimum-wage hike. Albert Aiello says increasing Ontario’s minimum wage to $14-an-hour will cost the Boys and Girls Club of Thunder Bay in the neighourhood of $50,000 a year.
Advocacy Work:
- September 27, 2017: Report: The Flip Side of Fair
- September 27, 2017: Final economic analysis by CANCEA
- August 14, 2017 Report Methodology
- August 14, 2017 Economic analysis report, “Measuring the Potential Economic Impacts of the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017: A risk assessment for Ontarians”
- July 10, 2017 Thunder Bay Chamber’s Presentation to Standing Committee on Fair Workplaces and Better Jobs (FB Live video)
- June 17, 2017 Our letter to MPPs Hon. Michael Gravelle and Hon. Bill Mauro
- May 30, 2017 ON Government Announcement, ON Government Backgrounder
Exhibitor Resources
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Check out this handy how-to of steps to maximizing the value of your Chamber Membership!
Tools for Empowerment
Grab a coffee and some team-members and take a learning break! Each of these 70 videos is under 15 minutes long and designed to start or advance your business' online marketing efforts. Members enjoy free access to the entire series and can watch them any time, as often as they like. Learn more.
Are you starting or growing a business in Thunder Bay? The Small Business Resource Guide website has been developed by the Small Business Development Committee to assist Chamber members with information and resources that they may find useful in starting and managing their business. Click here to visit.
BizPaL helps you generate a personalized list of the business documents you need for the levels of government – local, provincial/territorial, and federal – you may have to deal with in order to grow or start up your business. And if you are already operating, BizPaL can help you verify that you have all the correct permits and licences. Launch BizPaL
Climate Smart Video Webinar
The Climate Smart Chambers program helps provide businesses with tools and training on how to measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a cost effective manner. Learn about the program in this 15-minute condensed version of their webinar. The video lays out the business case for reducing emissions, particularly as national carbon pricing is implemented, and goes through a number of real life stories of SMEs that have created a competitive advantage by reducing emissions.
Chamber Member businesses receive exclusive rates from our Affinity Program partners on group insurance, merchant services, telecommunications, shipping and fuel. Whether you’re self-employed or a large employer, these can add up to significant savings on your bottom line. See how you can save.
eBook: Small Business Marketing On a Budget
Made available to our Members with the generous permission of the author, Melissa Forziat, Small Business Marketing on a Budget distills key lessons of marketing with actionable next steps so that you can apply them to your own business. Different sections will be relevant to different businesses, but the ideas provided here have the capacity to bring in tens of thousands of dollars of income.
Chamber eLearning
Chamber Members enjoy access to an amazing catalogue of affordable online learning courses and seminars for themselves and their employees through Chamber eLearning. Whether you’re looking to develop skills you need in the running of your own business or support good employees who need additional skills to meet current job demands, these are a great way to help you save time, money, or gain a competitive edge. View the course catalogue here.
The Chamber maintains a directory listing just for Members offering online shopping! Click here to visit the list and get clicking, or contact us if you don't see your online store listed and would like your business to be included.
The Chamber's Economic Development Fund is one of the ways our Membership is able to support initiatives that support the growth or strengthening of the city’s economy.
Resource Library
2018 Pre-Budget Deputation to City Council
Wondering what your Chamber had to say on your behalf about the City’s proposed 2018 budget? The full text of our deputation is here, along with links to the City’s budget information.
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Bill 148 FAQ and Fact Sheet
Many thanks to Chamber Member Weilers Law for supplying our Membership with this comprehensive information designed to help employers understand their new obligations under the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act.
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WEBINAR on Bill 148: Ontario’s New Labour Laws
Employer handbook outlines the potential risks to employers from Bill 148 and offers human resources and operational strategies to help businesses better understand what these changes will mean.
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Get Familiar with Thunder Bay’s Proposed Official Plan
The City of Thunder Bay Official Plan is the City’s official statement of the desirable future development of the City, emphasizing land use. It is a document that contains a comprehensive set of goals, objectives, and policies for the implementation of other planning approvals.
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PRESS RELEASE: Helping Businesses Mitigate the Impact of Bill 148
Employer handbook outlines the potential risks to employers from Bill 148 and offers human resources and operational strategies to help businesses better understand what these changes will mean.
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Chamber Welcomes Mental Health Tookit for Employers
Members now have access to a new toolkit from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) that seeks to assist employers in adopting mental health strategies for their workplace.
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New Report Urges Action to Improve Alignment of Skills, Education, and Career Opportunities
For Immediate Release - June 20, 2017 THUNDER BAY – Today the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC), in partnership with the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce, released a comprehensive report, Talent in Transition: Addressing the Skills Mismatch in Ontario, which identifies...
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Issues & Insights: Final Report on Changing Workplaces Review Released
Charla Robinson, President On May 23rd, the Ontario Government’s Special Advisors released their final report in the Changing Workplaces Review, outlining 173 recommendations to the Employment Standards Act (ESA) and the Labour Relations Act (LRA). See below for the...
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