Live on Salt Spring Island? Make sure you're a member of the newly rejuvenated Salt Spring Chamber of Commerce!
The purpose of the Chamber is to lobby the provincial government on behalf of business in both municipalities and unincorporated areas.
In past years, the Salt Spring Chamber was not proactive in this sense, and so the inevitable happened: accommodations group and then tourism group splintered off from the Chamber umbrella, as the perception was that the Chamber "did nothing".
This has definitely changed...the current Chamber Board is working diligently for the business community on Salt Spring.
The Chamber is the province-wide platform which works on behalf of business in a community. If you live on Salt Spring, and provide a service or an item for sale, then you're in business! Retail businesses, B&B, resorts, hotel, motel, architects, restaurants, contractors, excavators, backhoe operators, kayak rentals, car & scooter rentals, artists, purveyors at the Saturday Market, at ArtCraft, at Foodie Tuesday Markets, farmers, musicians, fitness studios, banks, insurance, educators, health professionals, etc etc etc...basically, unless you're retired and have therefore simply become a consumer, then you're in business. The Chamber is your legal platform, then, and it's essential to support it with membership.
The Islands Trust was created to deal with land use bylaw issues, as part of their "preserve & protect" mandate, for the benefit of all B.C. residents. The Trust has done a terrific job of retaining the environmental beauties of the Islands, since it came into being in 1974. It is to be commended.
However, over time, the Trust perhaps has strayed into areas that are not part of its mandate.
Since the Islands are not municipalities, there is no mayor/town council role to balance the Trust's non-business stance.
Both sides are needed...that's what creates community health.
There is then room for "everyone" to be able to live successfully and fully on a Gulf Island, while still protecting the environmental beauties of the islands.
It's a dialogue...supported by the entirety....
Perhaps, with the vacuum left by a lack of an alternative voice, this void has been inadvertently filled by the local trust on Salt Spring...they have possibly strayed into areas not in their mandate...the wishes of a few may have become the blueprint for the many, and perhaps without the open & transparent democratic traditions of Canada always being followed.
The word fiefdom comes to mind! I tease and say that one needs a degree in medieval history to live happily on a Gulf Island, with emphasis on the "fief" concept.
Perhaps, on Salt Spring, that alternative voice of accountability can be offered by a renewed and proactive Chamber of Commerce...the voice of those who work and who supply and who nurture the entire community dynamic.
Check it out...call or drop into the Chamber office (below the tourist info centre, at the Post Office parking lot level)...make your voice heard...make sure your Island hears your perspective.
If you're at the Fall Fair this weekend, stop by the booth and find out how membership in your Chamber of Commerce can benefit you.
Join the festivities at the Chamber sponsored Sip & Savour event on Sept 23/24...locally produced food, vineyard delights, talented chefs...a harvest celebration!
Lucky Islanders!
How may I help you to discover special Salt Spring Island & the Southern Gulf Islands? Call me!
