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B.C. Government Town Hall (photo / Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce)
Local needs in focus

Vernon engaging multiple provincial politicians

Feb 19, 2021 | 3:45 PM

It was a busy day for interaction on Greater Vernon issues with provincial government politicians.

The Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce hosted the first of several virtual town hall sessions today (Feb. 19) involving Ravi Kahlon, B.C.’s minister of jobs, economic recovery and innovation; Lana Popham, minister of agriculture; and Harwinder Sandhu, Vernon-Monashee MLA

Among the topics covered were the looming deadline for the small and medium-sized business recovery grant program, the real estate speculation tax, government spending on agriculture, how B.C. will pay for recovery programs and a new cultural centre in Greater Vernon.

On the cultural centre lobby front, Vernon Coun. Akbal Mund and Electoral Area “C” Director Amanda Shatzko had a zoom meeting with Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport, Melanie Mark today (Feb. 19) to discuss support for the grant request of $8.5 million.

Mund and Shatzko were given the lead role in lobby efforts to land the Investing in Canada Infrastructure program grant toward the $39.5 million project.

“Advocating on behalf of our members is fundamental to our organization and we thank Minister Kahlon, Minister Popham and MLA Sandhu for providing an opportunity for us to raise issues important to our members, particularly as we continue to navigate the pandemic,” said Dan Proulx, Greater Vernon Chamber general manager.

All questions submitted by chamber members during the town hall will be sent to the participants for a response.

The chamber has three more town halls scheduled:

March 3 – Mel Arnold, North Okanagan-Shuswap MP; and Pat Kelly, Conservative shadow cabinet minister for small business and Western economic diversification.

March 31 – Sam Samaddar, airport director, Kelowna International Airport.

April 7 – Greg Kyllo, B.C. Liberal critic for labour, and Todd Stone, critic for jobs, economic recovery and innovation.

For more information and to register for the town halls and webinars, chamber members can click here.

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