The issue of community Chambers of Commerce in Rocky View County (RVC) sparked a tense debate at the April 9 council meeting, with some councillors split over whether or not the County needs to get involved in local Chamber growth.
At the April 9 meeting, councillors debated a motion that would implore County administration into researching boundary adjustments and associated costs to create a new chamber of commerce in the Balzac area.
Division 5 Coun. Greg Boehlke, who represents the Balzac area on council, took charge on the motion. At a previous council meeting, Boehlke expressed interest in redefining the Airdrie District Chamber of Commerce’s boundary lines– which currently include all of Balzac.
“The idea here is to get the boundaries changed,” said Boehlke. “[Balzac] has a viable business sector. I would hazard to say our business sector is bigger than the City of Airdrie’s, in so much as the business development and the business that is [being] developed.”
Boehlke expressed a desire for Balzac businesses to have their own chamber, rather than “blend in” with Airdrie’s.
According to the County’s Notice of Motion on the issue, the Airdrie District Chamber of Commerce’s district boundaries were assigned by the federal government 50 years ago, and it includes the entire Balzac region of Rocky View County and northern parts of the City of Calgary.
Last October, representatives of the Airdrie District Chamber of Commerce gave a presentation to council where they outlined their plans to involve more Balzac area businesses in the Chamber’s operations.
When asked by members of council at the time whether the Airdrie Chamber would consider changing the boundaries to let Balzac operate its own chamber of commerce, Airdrie Chamber executive director Marilyne Aalhus said, “No.”
“This is a model that has been successful time and time again,” Aalhus explained to councillors. “There is more opportunity for businesses to collaborate and succeed together [under this model].”
That answer clearly did not sit right with some on council, hence the April 9 motion. However, not everyone on council was on board with the County getting directly involved in creating a Balzac Chamber of Commerce.
“Why isn’t the Balzac business community trying to do this on their own?” asked Division 4 Coun. Samanntha Wright. “I’m not disagreeing with the intent, but this should be something that is done by businesses themselves.”
Boehlke argued that the Balzac business community did try to organize a Rocky View Chamber of Commerce themselves years ago, but the momentum that the startup chamber needed fell through when its members got busy with other things.
“[The Rocky View Chamber] was a business association that started and never really found its feet,” said Boehlke.
While the councillors debated whether or not the business community of Balzac, which consists in large part of multinational corporations with fewer locally owned businesses who might be more interested in starting a Balzac chamber, Wright again pointed out that the desire for a chamber should come from the businesses, not the County.
“If there is no one driving the bus, where does it go?” Wright asked.
Although some councillors seemed to share Wright’s sentiment, (with Division 1 Coun. Kevin Hanson, for example, going as far as to say that he likely would not support the creation of a Balzac Chamber), a majority of council decided they wanted County administration to explore what it would take to create such a chamber of commerce. As part of the motion, it’s stated that administration has until the end of October to report back to council.
The motion passed by a 5-1 vote, with Wright being the only vote in opposition. Division 7 Coun. Al Schule was not present.
