The Thompson Chamber of Commerce got down to business quickly at their March 1 lunch meeting, electing a new executive and passing seven resolutions which will be brought forward at the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce annual general meeting, held this May in Brandon.
The new executive is led by Linda Markus, who moves up from the position of vice-president to take over for departing president Keith MacDonald. MacDonald had been Chamber president for the past two years, the longest term he could hold under the group's bylaws.
Oswald Sawh moves into the vice-president role, while Larry Caplette and Carol Pelton continue on as treasurer and secretary, respectively. MacDonald moves into the position of past president, which had been held by Louise Hodder, who remains on the board as a member-at large.
Markus and Sawh both own property rental companies, Caplette is the manager of Thompson's Liquor Mart, and Pelton is the owner and operator of Travel Only.
"One of the things that I was always confident about was that the Chamber of Commerce would have a voice at the table," said Mayor Tim Johnston, who was present to officiate the swearing-in ceremony of the new executive. "There were numerous times when public meetings were held, when hearings were held, when there was general debate in the community, and I was always very impressed with the Chamber led by then-president Keith MacDonald, who made sure that they were at the table and that they were part of that discussion. We may not necessarily have agreed all the time, but I think that's what's important about being a community and ensuring that all the voices are represented at the table."
"Keith really went beyond what is expected, especially in light of the challenges over the past couple of years - always in a respectful manner, always available to talk, always open to the opinions of others, but I firmly believe he always represented the true nature of the discussions that took place at the Chamber," added Johnston, who said that the city supported all seven of the Chamber's proposed resolutions.
Those resolutions, all of which were passed by the Chamber and now will be taken to the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce in mid-May, when that group holds its 80th annual general meeting in Brandon, included three resolutions carried over from 2010.
Specifically, those resolutions are that the provincial government commit to developing a northern 911 call centre, preferably based in Thompson but serving all of Northern Manitoba, that the province study the possibility of building an all-weather road between Norway House, Oxford House, Gods Lake Narrows and Gods River, with an eye to extending that road north to Gillam, and that the province work with the University of Manitoba to research Northern agriculture.
Three more resolutions are new for 2011 and were suggested recently by Chamber members. These resolutions call for the province to examine the feasibility of adding passing lanes to Highway 6, to undertake a similar study examining the possibility of a high-speed rail link between Winnipeg and Thompson, and to review the video lottery terminal (VLT) revenue payment system so that payments to municipalities have some relationship to how much money is put into VLT machines in the same municipalities.
The seventh resolution has been a bit of a hot potato over the past few years. The Thompson Chamber of Commerce had, in past years, sponsored a resolution asking the province to look at the feasibility of using airships for freight transportation in the North, an idea pioneered by Barry Prentice, a professor of supply chain management at the University of Manitoba.
That resolution was dropped in Thompson for 2010, but the Flin Flon Chamber of Commerce picked it up instead, and MacDonald lent his support to Flin Flon's resolution, much as Flin Flon had lent its support to Thompson's airships resolution in the past.
With Flin Flon deciding not to keep the resolution active in 2011, Thompson once again put it back on their agenda, and it passed the vote.
