President's Message
October 2016
Leonard Lee, President
As the Pender Harbour and District Chamber of Commerce reviews what was an energetic and successful year, I realize how fortunate we are on the Sunshine Coast to have so many active people volunteering their time and financial resources to make this an attractive community.
The Coast feels like one big friendly neighbourhood. We know each other pretty well. We have diverse interests, and usually our various opinions are firmly expressed, but we are united by a desire to maintain the special ambience of our home and ensure the viability of the community.
We value our cultural scene with its festivals and musical events that draw top artists from around the globe. We cherish our beautiful, natural environment that we are able to enjoy thanks to our trail networks and our publicly-accessible beaches, wharves and boat launches. In spite of our small and geographically-dispersed population, we have access to good health care and plenty of educational and recreational opportunities for everyone from toddlers to seniors. We have built good community centres, museums and public gardens, and we maintain them faithfully.
The unique thing about these social benefits is that they exist only because of the efforts of our volunteers and not-for-profit organizations. In this small place, we enjoy a quality of life well beyond our means because our budget is balanced by the contributions of individuals who quietly, year after year, give their time and very often their money to make this community what it is.
But it isn’t going to last unless we get two important things: more young families and more young adults with jobs.
While our Chamber realizes that seasonal tourism will continue to be a mainstay of the economy on the Coast, we see an urgent need for decent year-round work opportunities that pay a living wage. The public sector jobs created by the health care system and government services are not enough to sustain us. Unless free enterprise generates more basic employment for a population of young workers, our demographic will continue its journey into old age while businesses become ever more dependent on part-time residents and the weekend getaway crowd.
Our Chamber is working on economic development initiatives that will help create new employment opportunities for the Coast. Better transportation links are essential. We are lobbying for improvements to the ferry service and upgrades for Highway 101. We are providing our input into discussions on a possible fixed road link with the Lower Mainland. We are assisting in the development of improved web sites and social media usage, more local public amenities such hiking trails and better free access to the ocean and lakes. We are involved in and be supportive of an improved Community Plans that encourage growth and new business infrastructure.
Growing the economy means change, and change is hard. I understand the attitude of people who say, “If I wanted to live in the city I would move there.” I have heard this view expressed by people who grew up on the Coast as well as people who fell in love with the area and moved here recently. It is easy to think that we have paradise here now and more people are just going to wreck it. But we cannot pull up the drawbridge and close the gates. That means doing nothing, and if we do nothing, we die.
As we start our new fiscal year, the Pender Harbour and District Chamber of Commerce is revisiting our strategic imperatives and reviewing each of our active and proposed projects. I fully expect we will continue on our current path of trying to do what is right for our community by encouraging a healthy mix of new and old people and businesses.
Leonard Lee
President, Pender Harbour & District Chamber of Commerce
As the Pender Harbour and District Chamber of Commerce reviews what was an energetic and successful year, I realize how fortunate we are on the Sunshine Coast to have so many active people volunteering their time and financial resources to make this an attractive community.
The Coast feels like one big friendly neighbourhood. We know each other pretty well. We have diverse interests, and usually our various opinions are firmly expressed, but we are united by a desire to maintain the special ambience of our home and ensure the viability of the community.
We value our cultural scene with its festivals and musical events that draw top artists from around the globe. We cherish our beautiful, natural environment that we are able to enjoy thanks to our trail networks and our publicly-accessible beaches, wharves and boat launches. In spite of our small and geographically-dispersed population, we have access to good health care and plenty of educational and recreational opportunities for everyone from toddlers to seniors. We have built good community centres, museums and public gardens, and we maintain them faithfully.
The unique thing about these social benefits is that they exist only because of the efforts of our volunteers and not-for-profit organizations. In this small place, we enjoy a quality of life well beyond our means because our budget is balanced by the contributions of individuals who quietly, year after year, give their time and very often their money to make this community what it is.
But it isn’t going to last unless we get two important things: more young families and more young adults with jobs.
While our Chamber realizes that seasonal tourism will continue to be a mainstay of the economy on the Coast, we see an urgent need for decent year-round work opportunities that pay a living wage. The public sector jobs created by the health care system and government services are not enough to sustain us. Unless free enterprise generates more basic employment for a population of young workers, our demographic will continue its journey into old age while businesses become ever more dependent on part-time residents and the weekend getaway crowd.
Our Chamber is working on economic development initiatives that will help create new employment opportunities for the Coast. Better transportation links are essential. We are lobbying for improvements to the ferry service and upgrades for Highway 101. We are providing our input into discussions on a possible fixed road link with the Lower Mainland. We are assisting in the development of improved web sites and social media usage, more local public amenities such hiking trails and better free access to the ocean and lakes. We are involved in and be supportive of an improved Community Plans that encourage growth and new business infrastructure.
Growing the economy means change, and change is hard. I understand the attitude of people who say, “If I wanted to live in the city I would move there.” I have heard this view expressed by people who grew up on the Coast as well as people who fell in love with the area and moved here recently. It is easy to think that we have paradise here now and more people are just going to wreck it. But we cannot pull up the drawbridge and close the gates. That means doing nothing, and if we do nothing, we die.
As we start our new fiscal year, the Pender Harbour and District Chamber of Commerce is revisiting our strategic imperatives and reviewing each of our active and proposed projects. I fully expect we will continue on our current path of trying to do what is right for our community by encouraging a healthy mix of new and old people and businesses.
Leonard Lee
President, Pender Harbour & District Chamber of Commerce
October 2015
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President's Report: A Year in Review
October 2015 |
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February 2015
Leonard Lee, President
It is an exciting time for our community as we contemplate our future. We have a decision to make: do we continue our current devolution into a sleepy retirement and bedroom community, or do we choose to participate actively in the new economy and become a vibrant place where people of all ages visit, live and work? |
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A unique initiative for economic renewal is underway in Pender Harbour. The need for change was identified by a grassroots coalition of Pender Harbour businesses, residents and not-for-profit community groups. Now they are at the core of an effort to make important improvements in our infrastructure. These participants range from young and old lifelong residents to the newer recruits to the cause, people who originally came here to relax and enjoy what already existed but are now working hard to make our community more attractive to younger and active residents and visitors.
It is an exciting time for our community as we contemplate our future. We have a decision to make: do we continue our current devolution into a sleepy retirement and bedroom community, or do we choose to participate actively in the new economy and become a vibrant place where people of all ages visit, live and work? A unique initiative for economic renewal is underway in Pender Harbour. The need for change was identified by a grassroots coalition of Pender Harbour businesses, residents and not-for-profit community groups. Now they are at the core of an effort to make important improvements in our infrastructure. These participants range from young and old lifelong residents to the newer recruits to the cause, people who originally came here to relax and enjoy what already existed but are now working hard to make our community more attractive to younger and active residents and visitors. What remains clear to us is that our community wants to retain its relaxed lifestyle complete with down-home characters, rustic neighbourhoods, broad-minded people and minimal government intervention. We have no desire to become a city, complete with smokestacks, sidewalks, street lights and isolated community enclaves. Yet we realize that in order to preserve what we love, we have to welcome some development and change. This was the challenge facing our Chamber, and in response we ourselves have changed. Our Directors now reflect the diversity of our community, and our board includes men and women, young and old, business people and retirees, not-for-profit representatives and working folk. All of us are concerned residents of Pender Harbour. In 2014 we received the results of an economic development study by the Sauder School of Business at UBC. Recommendations included engaging our community to decide how we should present ourselves to the world, identifying how and to whom we should market our community and making the changes we need to attract and retain new visitors and residents. A working group in which we participate has engaged professionals to assist in the development and implementation of the marketing initiative. They have held community workshops and are making good progress on a marketing strategy. We are very pleased to report that local volunteers, volunteer groups, service clubs, our SCRD representative and the SCRD are all supporting this initiative and are implementing various aspects of this plan. We are enhancing public access to the ocean, lakes and wilderness, marking trails and providing appropriate signage to make these amenities easily located but also safe to use. We hope we are doing our part to support our community appropriately while at the same time contributing to our greater Sunshine Coast community and enabling us all to succeed. I think we are doing the right things for all of us and I am very proud of our community. We still have many hurdles to overcome, including securing funds for professional assistance, enhancing web sites, purchasing materials, participating in trade shows and so on. As a long-term community volunteer is fond of reminding me, we have a history of applying Pender Harbour solutions to Pender Harbour problems. We are hopeful that this Pender Harbour Spirit will carry the day. |
AGM: October 2014
