A productive year as the voice of business and new board

March 14, 2007
Delta, B.C. (March 14, 2007) The Delta Chamber of Commerce has gained a stronger position for business in the community members learned at the Annual General Meeting today and now it has a new Board of Directors for the year.

Over 70 Chamber members, attending the AGM at the Coast Tsawwassen Inn, heard about the Chamber’s increased advocacy role in a review of the past year by President Maria DeVries.

Recognizing the Board of Directors, members, staff and volunteers for their productivity, DeVries said the Chamber started the past year with a focus on four goals: a) member satisfaction, b) issues management, c) governance & operational effectiveness, and d) financial stability. The Chamber then succeeded across a wide range of issues and developed "Positions" to provide a stronger voice for business in the Delta community.

"Our role is to act on behalf of business in Delta to influence economic, social and government challenges and issues," she says.

How the significant changes faced by Delta in the coming decades will likely impact business life and how business can grow and succeed in the midst of change is, DeVries said, the purpose of the Chamber of Commerce.

"But, promoting growth and prosperity does not mean encouraging development anywhere, at any cost," she adds. "Nor does it mean longing for the past. It means evaluating each issue carefully, listening to all sides of the debate, and planning for the future."

"Promoting growth and prosperity means balancing economic growth with community interests."

DeVries then cited some of the Chamber’s accomplishments over the past year:

• participated in the Corporation of Delta’s drafting of new bylaws for container storage in Delta;
• participated in the team from Delta that successfully secured $630,000.00 from the provincial government for the Boundary Bay Airport;
• joined other Chambers and the Ladner Business Association to oppose Translink’s parking stall tax or "open space tax" which will now be eliminated;
• supported the plans for Delsom Estates, the 100-acre housing development in North Delta;
• assisted members of the international mailing industry and businesses in Delta to lobby the federal government on legislative changes that would, in effect, result in Canada Post's monopolizing that industry; 
• encouraged the Vancouver Port Authority to create a community liaison group to respond to concerns related to plans of the Port in Delta; 
• worked with the provincial government's Gateway representatives and various groups to challenge and discuss the alignment of the South Fraser Perimeter Road; 
• collaborated with the BC Trucking Association, TSI, Deltaport, Fraser Port Authority, the container storage industry, municipal councilors and many others on port expansion; 
• prepared to start working with the Delta Farmer's Institute on various issues such as irrigation and land use;
• developed a program in partnership with BCIT, on five business-related workshops based on Chamber members' priorities, to be launched on March 27.

Members had already learned in advance that, according to findings of a recent member survey, they were clearly in support of the Chamber’s role as advocate on their behalf related to business in Delta. At the meeting members attending also learned that the survey results indicated, in relation to the Chamber's objectives' members considered the top five were: 

• Chamber to be a credible representative for business on economic, social and governmental challenges to doing business in Delta;
• Maximize membership networking opportunities;
• Be a primary advocate for business in Delta;
• Attract new members; 
• Be a catalyst for economic prosperity in Delta.

The most important issues in the view of members, according to the survey, were:

• South Fraser Perimeter Road;
• Delta Port expansion;
• Public transit access; 
• Boundary Bay Airport;
• Tsawwassen power transmission lines.

The Delta Chamber Commerce will be reviewing the survey results in more detail soon and will develop action plans to respond to the members’ opinions.

Elected to the Delta Chamber of Commerce’s Board Executive for 2007 were: President (for a second term), Maria DeVries, president of a family-owned investment business; 1st V.P., Sandra Stoddart-Hansen, President of Alpha Aviation Inc.; 2nd V.P., Clint Morgan, President of Delta Container Inc.; Treasurer, Mario Costa, Senior Accountant at Shpak and Company; Past President,Gerry Beltgens, President of AG Integrated Courseware, a division of AG Advisors Group Inc.

Elected as Directors for 2007 were: Lorraine Bissett, Owner/Operator of Bissett Farms Ltd and Westham Island Estate Winery; Patricia Fleming, Executive Director of DRS Earthwise Society; Greg Muirhead, telephone sales consultant with North American Telecommunications Group; Orville (Orv) A. Nickel, President of O.N.E. Corporation; Bobby Pawar, marketing consultant; Peter Podovinikoff, Past-President and CEO and President Emeritus of Envision Credit Union; Jacque Small, Catalyst Business Coaching; Norman Stark, President & CEO of GCT Global Container Terminals Inc., and President & CEO of TSI Terminal Systems Inc.; Ian Tait, senior manager with BC Hydro in the Aboriginal Relations and Negotiations Group; Frank Wagner, co-owner of European Fabricare.

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For more information, contact:
Maria DeVries, President
Delta Chamber of Commerce
Tel. 604.946.4232