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Kelowna  

Kelowna chamber No. 1

The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce is the No. 1 business association in the province.

The local chamber was presented with the prestigious Chamber of the Year award during the B.C. Chamber of Commerce AGM in Prince George.

"We attended this event to make sure our local businesses' views are heard and understood at the provincial level, and that our local needs help drive the B.C. Chamber's policy and advocacy agenda," said chamber president Ken Carmichael.

"It was an honour to accept the award on behalf of our 2014-2015 board members and staff. After the award was announced, our CEO, Caroline Grover, and myself were surrounded by our peers asking what were the primary reasons for our membership growth and successes. My response was, we listen to our members and deliver benefits in a way that makes sense for our membership." 

Kelowna won in part for its innovative programs for women and executive leadership and programs to support and recognize business people under 40. 

A total of 54 policies were forwarded by member chambers and voted on at the AGM policy sessions. Each must receive two-thirds of votes to pass. Kelowna was successful in bringing forward five.

The province is being asked to improve border checkpoints to ensure invasive mussel species are kept out of B.C.

Another ongoing issue is the free flow of private-purchase wine, beer and spirits between provinces. The government will be asked to keep up pressure on holdouts such as Ontario.

The province will also be asked to work with the federal government, local governments, the academic sector and industry to support growth of digital media.

The chamber also came away with support for a new policy to consider changes to B.C.'s Employment Standards Act to harmonize its hours of work and overtime provisions with those in Alberta.

"Our chamber is committed to creating a more business-friendly Central Okanagan and a more business-friendly B.C. We think these policies will help achieve that, and we were appreciative of the needed votes we received from our peer chambers," said Grover.



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