It was a full house at the Cast Iron Grill in Fernie on Thursday for the Fernie Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting – the first in person since 2019.
“It was amazing to have that many members in the same building for the first time in however long its been. It was awesome to see the buy-in from not just our membership but other not-for-profits and the municipality. We’re really grateful for everyone’s support,” said executive director of the chamber, Brad Parsell.
Attended by the business community, local and regional politicians, the AGM included reflections on the staying power of local business.
“Right, wrong or indifferent, we’ve seen some pretty ugly stuff,” said Kootenay East MLA Tom Shypitka.
“I get calls every day, and I’m hoping we’re getting to the end of that.
“People have lost their livelihoods because of the pandemic, people have lost their businesses.”
“I want to recognise those that lost their businesses, but congratulations to those that did survive. You’ve done everything the government has asked. Small business and medium business has really shown how absolutely resilient they are, and how important it is to the province of B.C.”
Fernie Mayor Ange Qualizza also delivered remarks on the state of local government and the challenges faced given the anger and frustration in the community, and also talked about the beneficial grants awarded to the city over the last few years.
The AGM was followed by a Fernie Housing Information Session, which Parsell said was intended as a way to share more information and examples of work being done around the province to tackle a shortage of housing.
Presentations were given by representatives of not-for-profit organisations in Revelstoke, Invermere and Tofino, with an update on the state of Fernie’s own Fernie Family Housing Society and their North End Court development.
“Fernie’s done a lot, but I think we’re ready to take housing to the next level. We weren’t holding up any of those models as the shining path forward, but I think Fernie’s solution is going to be a mixture of a lot of stuff we’ve seen.”
A common thread between each community was the importance of a not-for-profit organization leading the charge, with the political backing of multiple levels of government.
Parsell leaned on findings from the Elk Valley Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) survey done in late 2021 as motivation for the session.
“Housing is all we seem to be talking about,” he said.
The BRE revealed that for a large swathe of local businesses, a lack of workers was being exacerbated by a lack of adequate housing.
“This is a really complex issue,” said Parsell. “If it wasn’t, we would have solved it.”
In other big news, Parsell confirmed that the ‘Business, Banter and Beers’ events hosted by a rotating roster of local businesses would be returning in coming weeks.
READ MORE: Anger towards local government will hurt businesses: Fernie Mayor
scott.tibballs@thefreepress.ca
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