CEO S ANNUAL REPORT TO MEMBERS May 28, 2015

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1 CEO S ANNUAL REPORT TO MEMBERS May 28, 2015 Foreword This report covers the twelve months since the last annual general meeting, held May 29 th, 2014 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Governance During this period, ACC was governed by a board of directors comprised of seven chamber and six corporate representatives from all four provinces. The board met five times between June 2014 and May In November, we accepted with great regret the resignation of past chair Keith Lambe, who retired from his position as Regional Manager at Bell Aliant, Charlottetown. The Board had two active committees: Finance and Audit and Nominating Committee. Strategic Planning As it had been several years since ACC renewed its strategic plan, it was decided to request proposals from regional firms to assist us in the process. MRSB Consulting Services of Charlottetown was the successful bidder and Principal Wendy Drake took directors and staff through a number of key milestones and activities including a survey, full day strategic planning session on September 8 th, an Implementation Plan review with the Executive and CEO on September 29 th and review and approval of the final document by the full Board in January The 2015 Action Plan approved by the Board of Directors is based on three pillars: A. FOCUSED, INSIGHTFUL, AND EFFECTIVE POLICY AND ADVOCACY GOAL #1: Enable business growth in Atlantic Canada through focused, insightful, and innovative policy development and advocacy B. VALUE-DRIVEN MEMBER SUPPORT AND ENGAGEMENT GOAL #2: Promote and grow the value to members through support and engagement C. STRONG, SUSTAINABLE ORGANIZATION GOAL #3: Achieve long-term sustainability through revenue growth and diversification and adopted standards of operations Policy and advocacy Provincial advisory committees (PACs) were established on PEI in 2013 and in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in The Newfoundland and Labrador PAC started meeting in January of this year. Members of the PAC s are ACC directors and business persons nominated by local chambers. We have left the nominations process open in all provinces as we are still seeking a balance of representatives both geographically and urban to rural on every PAC. The New Brunswick Provincial Advisory Committee is comprised of business people from Centreville, Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, Richibucto and Miramichi areas of the province. The committee had a very full year with a provincial election in September. Here is a brief summary of activities: 1

2 Surveys: chambers were surveyed on the New Brunswick Drug Plan, which proposed downloading costs to the private sector. A pre-budget survey was followed up with a letter to the Minister of Finance outlining budget priorities. Local chambers were also surveyed for input into 2015 policy priorities. Results were shared with PAC members. Researched election issues, sent letters to party leaders and shared responses. The new Premier was congratulated on his election and subsequently challenged on the imposition of a moratorium on shale gas. Steve Moran, CEO Corridor Resources provided an overview of Corridor s Resources (CR) natural gas explorations in New Brunswick and discussed the effect of the moratorium imposed by the provincial government. The ACC board has given the go ahead for the NB PAC to pursue a broad based education campaign on hydraulic fracturing and discussion are underway with Corridor Resources on how we might proceed. Tim Curry, past president of the Atlantic Centre for Energy, presented information on the Be Informed-Shale Gas seminar series that provides participants with a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of complex energy and related industries to help them make informed decisions about energy issues affecting their or their client s, organizations. Chambers around the province have been invited to host a seminar. Members received a presentation by Krista Ross describing her experience on a trip to the Alberta oil sands that was organized by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce for senior chamber staff of local chambers of commerce or boards of trade. The goal of the trip was to offer chamber staff valuable insight on the forces, individuals and technologies that shape the oil and gas sector. Members attended a luncheon with Richard Saillant, author of Over the Cliff and Shale Gas in New Brunswick. Richard Saillant of Moncton is the director general of the Canadian Institute for Research on Public Policy and Public Administration; his books call on the New Brunswick government to make immediate changes to its economic policies. The Nova Scotia Provincial Advisory Committee is comprised of business people from the Strait area, Truro, Springhill, Halifax/Dartmouth, Annapolis Valley and Windsor. Here is a brief summary of their activities: Immediately focused on the Now or Never Report authored by the NS Committee on Building our New Economy (chaired by Ray Ivany), which was released in the spring of The committee felt that the ACC and its network of 28 Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade are ideally positioned to support economic renewal in communities from Yarmouth to Cape Breton. Organized a brainstorming session on December 4 th in Halifax with over 60 business people from around the province to discuss ways that Chambers and Boards could support the objectives of the One Nova Scotia Initiative. The session produced an Action Plan for Supporting the One Nova Scotia Initiative that will direct chamber engagement and a three-year commitment to implement economic renewal initiatives across the province Established a steering committee to set annual objectives for the Action Plan, report on results, and liaise with the OneNS Coalition to ensure alignment. Current membership on the committee includes Nancy Conrad (Halifax), Alan Johnson (Truro), Jack Kyte (Pictou County), Damian MacInnis (Strait), Ray Savage (Annapolis Valley), Karen Enright (Digby), Mike Smith (South Shore), and Adrian White (Sydney). Based on an inquiry from Danny Graham of Engage NS, the steering committee recommended providing support to a province-wide consultation on community engagement call Shaping our Future. The event will take place on June 16 th and connect local meetings by internet to the central Halifax location. A summary of the event is attached. 2

3 The Steering Committee will identify annual objectives and deadlines for the action plan over the summer months and submit a work plan in September. The first step in developing the work plan is to consult with chambers across the province to inventory chamber initiatives taken during the past year in response to the Ivany report. The result of this survey will provide a starting point and benchmarks for measuring progress toward economic renewal at the local and provincial levels. The Steering Committee will meet on May 12 to determine next steps. The Prince Edward Island Provincial Advisory Committee was comprised of business people from Summerside, Charlottetown, South Shore and Eastern PEI. Unfortunately this small PAC of just five persons was decimated by illness, retirement and a resignation. We were unable to get new nominees to take the place of these individuals so there have been no meetings since October of last year. The Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Advisory Committee is comprised of business people from St. John s, Mount Pearl, Gander and the Burin Peninsula. The committee met for the first time in January of this year for orientation on their role. At subsequent meetings, members discussed the upcoming provincial budget and the impact the downturn in the oil and gas industry was having on Newfoundland and Labrador. Of note were massive layoffs in Alberta, capital projects cancelled or put on hold, motor vehicle and housing starts on the decline. Provincial and federal elections are scheduled in 2015; members were apprised of the approach that ACC used in other provinces and the Canadian Chamber tactics for the federal election. The CCC will work with regional, provincial and territorial chambers to ensure that the entire network has access to tools, templates and resources during the election campaign. Policy research and development In 2014, policy research and development was supported under contract by Craig Ennis, former policy advisor to the St. John s Board of Trade. In January of this year, we hired Glenn Davis as full time vice president, Policy. Glenn s background of 16 years with the Council of Atlantic Premiers & New England Governors & Eastern Canadian Premiers doing policy research and preparing briefings for senior government officials, and supported numerous intergovernmental and interdepartmental committees made him an outstanding candidate for this new position. We were present at the budget lock-ups in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and followed the Newfoundland and Labrador budget on-line. Reactions to these budgets were issued the same day. In Nova Scotia, cuts to the Film Tax Credit received the most push back of all the measures announced. All Nova Scotia chambers were polled regarding the budget cuts to this industry; 67% did not want the changes to the Film Tax Credit imposed as proposed in the budget. ACC recommended to government that changes to the NS Film Tax Credit be postponed until a full economic analysis and consultation with industry can be completed or until further details of industry support programs were available. ACC and the CCC urged the government of Nova Scotia to re-evaluate the proposed timelines for implementing the ban to be more consistent with the approach taken in the province of Ontario. ACC, the Charlottetown, Saint John, Fredericton and Gander chambers of commerce wrote to the transport minister asking that the federal government changes the eligibility to the Airports Capital Assistance Program (ACAP) to include airports with under 525,000 passengers which are located on crown land and increase the funding to ACAP to address the requirements of all qualifiers OR create a similar ACAP type program that would meet the needs of these small NAS airports with less than 525,000 passengers. This was a follow up to the resolution presented at the 2014 CCC-AGM. A letter was sent to the Chair, Canada Transportation Act Review underlining the need to create a competitive and efficient transportation system that provides local consumers with access to domestic and international 3

4 transportation services, and facilitates the evolution of improved service through technological innovation and new market entrants. Member Support and Engagement Membership As of April 30 th, 2015 ACC had XX chambers/boards of trade and XX corporate members in good standing. Since the last AGM, assistance was provided by staff to many chambers in the areas of re-accreditation, bylaw reviews, board governance, operational issues, benefits and starting-up a new chamber to name just a few of the areas where members sought advice or guidance. Face to face meetings with small groups or individual chambers were held throughout the year: PEI: West Prince, Summerside, Charlottetown, EPEI. New Brunswick: Albert County, Kent Sud, Bouctouche, Saint John, Moncton, Fredericton, Richibucto, Hampton, Oromocto, Sackville, Bathurst, Caraquet, Tracadie-Sheila, Edmunston, Kedgwick and Grand Falls. Nova Scotia: Annapolis Valley, Digby, Annapolis Royal, Amherst, Musquodoboit Harbour, Chester, Mahone Bay, Barrington, Shelburne, Yarmouth and Clare. Newfoundland: St. Johns Board of Trade. Professional development A full day of professional development was organized for chamber staff and volunteers on May 27 th in St. John s. Fueling and Tooling Your Chamber was facilitated by Todds Letts, a fifteen years association executive with organizations such as the Toronto Board of Trade and the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce. Todd currently serves as CEO for the Brampton Board of Trade. The program included segments on membership retention, revenue generation, social media, working with the Board and strategic planning. Strong, sustainable organization ACC ended the 2014 year with an excess of revenues over expenditures of $117,942 compared to $44,204 in Legacy funds, that is those funds that remained in provincial chamber coffers when they were dissolved, were placed in separate bank accounts in 2013 and have not been touched. These funds have been invested in Variable Rate GICs, locked in term deposits and Blue Chip Progressive GIC to maximize the potential for a higher returns. Administration and staffing Following a successful performance review by the executive committee, CEO Valerie Roy s contract with ACC was renewed for another year. Glenn Davis was hired as ACC s first full-time Vice President, Policy on January 12 th, Tracy Dauphinee, Manager Administration, remained on staff and continued her excellent work in support of the finances, member services and benefits, meeting logistics and other key areas of our operations. Conclusion My message to chambers over the past twelve months has been consistent: by moving forward together we have overcome our financial concerns and now have a governance structure that is integrated, accountable, sustainable and effective. It has taken three years, but we finally have the resources in place to deliver on our new vision: ACC will be a strong, credible, unified voice for business and will provide excellent service and maximum value to our members. I am proud of the work that has been accomplished by our small staff, ably supported by ACC s Board of Directors and members of the PACs and confident that we will achieve our stated goals in the months and years ahead. 4

5 Sincerely, Valerie Roy Chief Executive Officer (506)