‘Ready to forge a path’

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This article was published 06/10/2023 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s largest chamber network teased a plan to focus on the city’s social issues and to change its membership framework as it passes its 150th anniversary.

“We are ready to forge a path towards our next 150,” Loren Remillard, the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce’s president, told a crowd of about 80 people.

The chamber held its annual general meeting Thursday. The non-profit, which represents around 2,000 businesses, unveiled a strategic plan for the next two years.

The plan highlights a tailored chamber model where membership means engaging in “greater-good initiatives and direct value appeals” instead of just joining to be a “good corporate” citizen.

Spring will bring announcements of the chamber’s transformation, Remillard said.

Work is underway to alter how the organization “invites our members to invest in the chamber,” he told a reporter, declining to give further details.

Upcoming announcements will also showcase the chamber’s changing role in the community, Remillard stated.

Winnipeg’s business community brings “a lot of people power to… (the city’s) challenges, be it housing, homelessness, other social challenges,” Remillard said, adding chamber members collectively employ more than 100,000 people. “We also want to say, ‘How can we bring some financial power and resources to complement the human resources we’re bringing?’”

Corporate social responsibility is a message both he and the chamber’s new board chair have preached.

Jeannette Montufar-MacKay was sworn in as the chamber’s 130th chairperson during the meeting. She plans to focus on diversity initiatives, equal pay and tackling social issues, she told the crowd.

She previously told the Free Press she hopes to tackle downtown Winnipeg’s revitalization.

“For the economy to continue to grow, the next 150 years will require a paradigm shift in how we participate as a business community in the business of society,” Montufar-MacKay said Thursday.

The chamber wants to include its members in defining what the local business community will look like over the next 150 years, Remillard said.

Collaboration with partners will be “critical,” he added.

He highlighted World Trade Centre Winnipeg and CentrePort Canada. The three organizations announced last November they’ll share an office near Portage and Main.

Core strategies of the chamber’s plan include leading policy conversation, continuing diversity initiatives and offering new program delivery models.

The non-profit had an operational excess of $22,453 during the 2023 fiscal year, when comparing revenues to expenses. The number is less than half of last year’s $45,713.

It’s down “relatively insignificantly,” Remillard stated.

Robert Kowalchuk, treasurer of the chamber’s board, said the chamber maintains a “strong cash position.”

Membership revenue increased roughly $30,000 year over year; event revenue increased more than $200,000 year over year due to a return to in-person gatherings.

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However, event expenses also increased and some pandemic-era government support ended, Kowalchuk noted.

Remillard expressed optimism about the chamber’s new board chair and Manitoba’s elected officials, including Mayor Scott Gillingham, who swore in Montufar-MacKay.

“It feels like there’s an alignment,” he said.

The general meeting marked the end of Mark Jones’ role as the chamber’s board chairman. Kevin Selch, Little Brown Jug Brewing Co.’s founder, is the board’s incoming chair. He’ll replace Montufar-MacKay in October of 2024.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com

Strategic Plan 2024-2026

Gabrielle Piché
Reporter

Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle.

Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.