Our hometown needs your help
Our local businesses here in Prince George have been on a roller coaster of challenges and yet they persevere. They do it for their employees, for their customers, for their families, and for their dreams. Our businesses not only generate jobs and economic opportunities, but they also encourage volunteerism and support an incredible non-profit sector. We have a lot of amazing leaders and innovators in Prince George and they deserve hope and a path to economic recovery. The priorities of the Prince George Chamber of Commerce are to support our local business community and to advocate on their behalf.
There’s more that we can all do to #SupportPG and the chamber recently launched a new campaign to help our community to rally around our hometown businesses. Shop Local is an initiative funded by the federal government to encourage people to support businesses as they seek to recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic. The program, delivered nationally through provincial and territorial chambers of commerce, provides grants for programs and campaigns that encourage Canadians to Shop Local. The chamber was successful in receiving one of these grants and has been producing content and contests promoting local businesses that started in December and will continue in the weeks ahead. Sometimes what we buy, and what we use it for, isn’t as important as who we bought it from. When we shop local, we support our hometown.
We’re not out of the woods yet with the COVID-19 pandemic and 2022 is already starting to look a lot like the last year. Some businesses are faced with closures even today. The chamber has been advocating that our businesses deserve better support from government and especially as businesses put safety plans in place and respond to provincial health orders that are outside of their control. This will be a continued priority over the next year and the chamber will be advocating for an economic recovery strategy that includes Northern B.C. issues and concerns.
For example, in 2021 the chamber participated in a federal consultation on the creation of a new federal economic development agency just for B.C. PacifiCan is now operational with a head office in Surrey and Prince George was ultimately selected for a new PacifiCan service location that can play a role in regional economic development. Collaboration between governments, Indigenous partners, and business can help to pave the way for economic recovery.
In the past couple of years, we’ve seen provincial and federal elections, and 2022 happens to be a local government election year. As always, the chamber encourages participation and debate in the democratic process.
The chamber also hopes that voters consider candidates and policies that focus on creating an environment where our local businesses can succeed and thrive. Prince George has so much to offer, but we need a strong and healthy business community to realize our potential to be one of the best cities to live, work, invest, and raise a family. Supporting our businesses is supporting our hometown.