It was a good year for the Portage la Prairie and District Chamber of Commerce. That's according to President Dave Omichinski, following their annual general meeting this afternoon at the Canad Inns. Omichinski says one of the highlights over the past year has been their efforts to promote their work to local businesses, helping to bolster their membership numbers.

"I'm really pleased with the successes that we're seeing, the focus of the board and focusing more on communicating value proposition out to the business community, and the community at large. It's starting to resonate. As reported we had about a dozen or so new members last year, and we saw six coming after the Home and Business Expo. That's a great start to 2016."

Omichinski hopes communication and advocacy will remain top priorities over the next year, citing the review of the downtown parking strategy as one issue the business community will be engaged in.

"Right now, there's the overall downtown parking the city's working on and they'll be engaging the chamber. We're going to be reaching out to the business community as a whole, as well as the downtown businesses, which are most impacted, so they know what's going on and we have a role in it. They can provide us their input so we're able to go the city, say 'Here's what we're hearing from the business community' and there's credibility in that."

Manitoba Chambers of Commerce President Chuck Davidson also presented at the AGM, and had a glowing review of the local chamber, describing it as the 'gold standard'.

"There's very few chambers of commerce in Manitoba that do everything. The work this organization has done, that's the gold standard that all chambers should aspire to. We've got chambers of all different sizes in

Chuck DavidsonManitoba, chambers that are volunteer based who don't have staff, and then you have one like the Winnipeg Chamber that has 18 to 20 staff. For a chamber of this size, with the membership that it has, they do all the things right."

Davidson also discussed the Manitoba Chambers ongoing work to advocate for local business issues. While he notes they advocate year-round, he notes the provincial election campaign also has them bringing issues to the forefront.

"We need to make sure, from a business community perspective, that issues important to business are addressed. Whether it's competitiveness, what's being done on regulatory burdens, what about tax rates, how easy is it to do business in Manitoba, or some of those other important issues like work force. These are issues that are important to business, and we need to make sure those individuals who are running for elected office are addressing issues that are going to be important to business, because they're important to communities as well."

Meanwhile Omichinski says the next year promises to be a busy one for the local chamber, noting one highlight will be hosting the Manitoba Chamber AGM in May.