Meet The Chamber’s New Business Development & Membership Services Co-Ordinator

Sep 02, 2022

By Admin

Meet Victoria Redekopp!

The Brockville and District Chamber of Commerce is always searching for the best to ensure our members and businesses have a satisfying experience with the Chamber. Starting September 6th, we would like to welcome Victoria Redekopp who will be stepping into a new role of Business Development & Membership Services. She will be assisting our members in facilitating various communications between one another and cultivating a better experience overall for all members! Feel free to go to one of our September networking events to meet her and introduce yourself. 

Learn more about Victoria from her bio below: 

“I was born and raised in Brockville and have loved the city for its spirited community as well as its historic landmarks.

I graduated from Carleton University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and Media Studies. During my studies, I was selected as an ambassador for the Faculty of Public Affairs, which allowed me to co-ordinate and lead event planning.

It was there that my passion for Event Works and community involvement was ignited.

When I moved back to the area, I entered the professional world where I was fortunate enough to coordinate events, network amongst the community, and meet some wonderful people. This allowed my growth as an entrepreneur.  

I am delighted to become a member of the Brockville and District Chamber of Commerce team; it will be a wonderful opportunity to work alongside some amazing people!

My passions include golfing, walking along the waterfront, fostering rescue cats, building Lego sets, camping with family, and being an aunt to my sweet nephew.

I believe that the possibilities in life are endless.

Even if you shoot for the moon and miss, you’ll land among the stars!” ~ Victoria

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The Chamber Announces 2022 Businessperson of The Year

Aug 19, 2022

By Admin

The Brockville & District Chamber of Commerce Is Proud To Announce 2022’s Businessperson of The Year is:

Margaret Hudson

Margaret is the President and CEO of Burnbrae Farms which operates egg farming and processing facilities in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia including the locations in Brockville and Lyn. From a young age, Margaret has worked in the business in several different capacities, beginning in her home county of Leeds & Grenville. Since assuming overall leadership of the company after her father, Margaret has continued the rapid growth of the business across Canada. With more than 400 employees working for Burnbrae locally, Margaret leads one of the largest employers in this region.

As President, Margaret’s efforts have enabled Burnbrae Farms to expand its product offering to include a wide variety of shell egg and processed egg products, enabling the company to reach a wider customer base and lead innovation within the industry. She has also strengthened and advanced Burnbrae’s culture of care for the hens on its farms as well as  Burnbrae’s position as a global leader in animal welfare.  Burnbrae Farms demonstrates its commitment to the improvement of poultry welfare in many ways, but most notably through its contributions to research at the University of Guelph.

Margaret has striven to ensure that Burnbrae takes care of the communities in which it operates, including the communities of Leeds & Grenville.  Through product donations to our local food bank, raising funds for events like the Five Mile Lighthouse rebuild, and monetary contributions to the Aquatarium, the YMCA of Eastern Ontario, the Brockville Tunnel, the Brockville General Hospital and countless other organizations, Margaret has established herself as a progressive and respected member of our community and she has continued the commitment to giving back that was established by her parents, Joe and Mary Hudson, and many other family members.

She has donated her time by serving on many different boards including: Food Health and Consumer Products of Canada, the Royal Winter Fair, and The Grocery Foundation. Margaret has also been the recipient of multiple business and grocery industry awards, such as The Golden Pencil which she received in 2020, and the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix Lifetime Achievement award.

Through her commitment to the agri-food industry in Canada, Burnbrae Farms and its employees, and the community as a whole, Margaret continues to demonstrate excellence in all she does and we are so pleased to be able to present her with this award.

Margaret is also proud to share the honour of being recognized in the Brockville community with her father, Joe Hudson, Business Person of the Year in 2006, her sister, Mary Jean McFall, Citizen of the Year in 2008, and her brother-in-law, Ian McFall, Citizen of the Year in 2014.

We look forward to celebrating the Business Person of the Year Award with Margaret’s family and friends at the Awards of Excellence Gala, being held on Thursday, October 20th at the Brockville Memorial Centre. We will also be honouring the recipients for Business of the Year, Small Business of the Year, Community Excellence, Tourism, Citizen of the Year, Young Professional of the Year, and the Ben TeKamp Memorial Award.

Seating is limited and tickets must be purchased online in advance!

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Brockville and District Chamber of Commerce and Ontario Chamber of Commerce Release their Blueprint to Bolster Ontario’s Prosperity

Aug 08, 2022

By Admin

(Brockville, Ontario – August 8, 2022) – The Brockville and District Chamber of Commerce and Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) welcomes the return of the Legislature and looks forward to working with Premier Ford, his new cabinet, and all parties to champion the province’s competitiveness, productivity, and growth. To put its members’ concerns’ front and centre as the Legislature returns, the OCC today released its Blueprint to Bolster Ontario’s Prosperity,which provides a letter to each provincial cabinet minister outlining key policy priorities.

“Businesses across Leeds Grenville are looking to the government to develop policies that will spur local and regional economic growth and job creation,” said Pamela Robertson, Executive Director. “The government m­­ust create the right conditions to support business stability, predictability, and confidence. There must be a balance between short-and long-term solutions to address our current and future challenges.”

Some key highlights in OCC’s Blueprint to Bolster Ontario’s Prosperityinclude:

• Addressing Ontario’s labour market challenges by boosting immigration, removing barriers to labour mobility and introducing workforce development strategies for key sectors such as construction, health care, tourism, and hospitality, and transportation. 
• Bolstering our health care system by developing a health human resources strategy, delivering on digital health, and addressingbacklogs in routine vaccines, diagnostics, and cancer screenings.
• Continuing to prioritize lowering the administrative burden on business and ensuring that regulation is streamlined and effective.
• Planning for Ontario’s long-term energy needsto ensure businesses and residents continue to have access to reliable, clean, and affordable energy for generations to come.
• Propelling housing affordability through increased supply and regulatory reforms to fuel the industry and help organizations attract and retain talent.
• Advancing regional transportation connectivity and fare integration as well as broadband infrastructure projects in collaboration with the private sector.
• Modernizing public procurement to support small businesses and equity seeking entrepreneurs to diversify the supply chain.
• Seizing Ontario’s opportunity to lead in the global green economy by minimizing uncertainty, supporting cleantech, mobilizing clean energy solutions, and strengthening climate adaptation.

“The past few years have been characterized by tremendous uncertainty: a prolonged pandemic, record-high inflation, supply chain disruptions, labour shortages, and geopolitical turmoil. If we want our economy and people to emerge stronger amid so much uncertainty, Ontario must focus on creating the right conditions to support competitiveness, productivity, and growth,” said Rocco Rossi, President and CEO, Ontario Chamber of Commerce. “We are providing all Ministers with a blueprint for steps that can be taken to ensure we are bolstering Ontario’s prosperity – we look forward to continued collaboration with the Government of Ontario and all parties over the next four years.”

The OCC’s blueprint letters includes both policy asks where immediate action is required to support business and foundational recommendations for long-term prosperity and were informed by OCC’s diverse membership.

READ THE LETTERS.

The Brockville and District Chamber of Commerce is part of a network of Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade that exist in virtually every community across Ontario and Canada. The Chamber network consists of 65,000 businesses provincially and 170,000 businesses nationally. Locally, the Chamber has over 300 members and is recognized as this area’s official “Voice of Business.” This voice is an effective force in influencing issues and legislation affecting your business and our community. It is a membership based and not-for-profit association that is led by an elected volunteer Board of Directors. We support and grow business to build a strong economic community through proactive leadership in advocacy and relevant programming. 

About the Ontario Chamber of Commerce

For more than a century, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) has been the independent, non-partisan, indispensable partner of Ontario business. The OCC’s mission is to support economic growth in Ontario by defending business priorities at Queen’s Park on behalf of its network’s diverse 60,000 members.

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