In a departure from the municipal election debates it held in the past, the Orillia & District Chamber of Commerce hosted an economic summit with local business leaders and political candidates Thursday evening.
The Future of Orillia and Lake Country Prosperity Economic Summit was open to political candidates from Orillia, Oro-Medonte, Ramara, Severn, and Chippewas of Rama First Nation representatives to gather data and help set the chamber’s business agenda.
The event featured a moderated session in which dozens of attendees formed groups, answered questions, and held discussions about the strengths and opportunities of the local business community, as well as future priorities for the chamber.
Data from the session, which was held at the Best Western Plus Mariposa Inn and Conference Centre, was gathered and compiled by representatives from Lakehead University and will be used to inform the chamber’s advocacy policy in the next municipal council term.
“People in the past would think the Orillia & District Chamber of Commerce was advertising, networking, event organization,” said the chamber’s executive director, Allan Lafontaine. “While we do those things very well, we raised the bar and your chamber is communicating with the federal, provincial and municipal governments on an ongoing basis.
“We meet once a week with the Ontario Chamber, all with the aim of trying to advocate for labour (and) supply chain issues.”
The priorities set at the summit, as suggested and voted on by attendees, are as follows:
- Housing
- Focus on youth
- Job creation
- Developing a convention centre
- A “what’s next” strategy
- Orillia as an arts destination
- Economic strategy with twist
- Internet
- Outreach program & networking
- Intermunicipality advocacy
- Deglobalization and aligning education with local needs
“What we should be really doing is focusing on how to get better housing in the community, and one of the ideas that we (thought) about was prefabricated homes,” said Ward 1 candidate Mathew Lund.
“Factories need to be bringing in and working with partnerships and businesses that are already pre-established to be building small prefabricated homes that are going to create jobs, and it's going to help with the cost of living," said Lund.
“We are an aging population, but we do need young people, so we need to do things within the community to attract them and keep them here,” said Simcoe County District School Board trustee Jodi Lloyd. “Programs that are at Georgian and Lakehead can be aligned to what we need in the community, so that we can keep those graduates in the community and working here.”
Following the moderated portion of the summit, an informal networking session was held.
Lafontaine viewed the summit as a success, and said it helped to prioritize business goals for the community ahead of broader public issues typically discussed at conventional debates.
“When you look at the effectiveness of the debate, it tends to be a public debate, and we're the chamber of commerce – we represent businesses,” he said.
“We're gaining consensus on what's needed, and business leaders are here to network with those running to share what's the most important part of business," Lafontaine added.
“I think it turned out great, and we're going to continue to work with Lakehead … to increase (our data), to continue to get ideas, and give that feedback to our federal, municipal, and provincial politicians,” he said. “I think there will be the end of us running these public debates, but I think we're going to do more of this," said Lafontaine.
That said, Ward 1 candidate Rick Sinotte hoped the event would provide more opportunity to connect with the public.
“It's all stuff that we've all been saying, and every councillor for the last 20 years have been saying,” said Sinotte. “I originally (thought it) was to engage with the public – I didn't really see any engagement.”
However, Ward 4 candidate Joe Winacott and Ward 3 candidate Jeff Czetwerzuk thought the economic summit provided a unique avenue for working with Orillia’s business community.
“It was nice sitting with a group … and coming up with different ideas, going back and forth with other group’s ideas,” Winacott said. “It was good to see … where we can grow business for the chamber, and that's kind of what we really want to do, is (ask) how can we grow business in Orillia?”
Czetwerzuk agreed.
“It was nice hearing from the business community and hearing about their their wants and needs because I think those are important,” said Czetwerzuk, who thought the event was a good way of connecting with people. “It was nice to have a chance to connect with folks on a more personal level, because in all reality, when you're out there speaking, you don't really get that much time to talk.”
