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PRESIDENT'S PIECEWelcome to the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce new,electronic magazine!Michael Weinstein - CWCC PresidentThe Chamber continues to explore avenues to reach out to ourmembership and increase the value of a chamber membership.Our goal is for this new publication to provide more space thanour current “Blink” provides, and with that, we will strive toprovide more information. This is not to say that we won‟tcontinue with the “Blink” for more time sensitive issues but it isour hope that this format will help answer the “why should I jointhe chamber?” questions. WHY? There is value in educationand this magazine format will offer greater capacity to delivereducational content.Membership in the Chamber is not a social club. It is not a sales club. It is certainly not a proverbial “oldboys club”. The purpose of the Chamber is to act as a catalyst for business. The purpose of the chamber isto be a resource for business information and a voice of the business community.Through advocacy at the local, provincial and national level, the Chamber works to further the interests ofbusiness. Membership in the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce automatically provides localbusinesses a voice with both the Ontario and Canadian Chambers of Commerce. It is interesting to notethat each chamber, at the provincial and national level, has one vote acting on advocacy and policydecisions. This means that our „small‟ chamber has the same weight as a Toronto or Vancouver chamber!This being said, we still depend on our membership to challenge and inspire us. We conduct RibbonCuttings to celebrate new business openings or similar achievements. Most recently we worked with thetownship on the Sign Bylaw. This was an interesting exercise. We worked on behalf of all businesses toensure that the sign bylaw being proposed by the Building Department kept the needs of the businesscommunity on the table. While the bylaw is not perfect, we do have agreement from council that it can be revisitedand modified as necessary. It was an opportunity to work WITH council rather than as a dissentingvoice.We strongly encourage all businesses to join the chamber. Our membership fees are reasonable – basedon the size of each business. Some of our members choose to join and become actively involved withvarious committees; others join and support the chamber through attendance at various special events.Some companies join for the training and educational opportunities. We are continuing to develop andpresent more “business related” seminars – at a reasonable cost and with valuable information content.Some companies join and we never see them – and that is fine. They join the chamber because theybelieve “it is the right thing to do”. They value the work of the chamber to improve the overall businessclimate in the township.We hope that you enjoy this new publication and find it valuable. It is environmentally friendly – no paper –so print what you want and feel free to forward, electronically, to your staff and colleagues. If you havecomments or suggestions, or wish to share your knowledge on a particular subject by writing an article,please contact us – we‟re listening. We‟re doing our best to make sure YOUR chamber provides you withmembership value for YOUR business!Michael WeinsteinPresidentCentre Wellington Chamber of CommerceT h e F o c u s A u t u m n 2 0 1 1 | 5