from the desk of Dave Ashton:

Summer has arrived and with it, the tourists. “Waring's Corner” may be one of their first attractions or hurdle with the addition of the new round-about. This scenic addition compliments our new home building centre, Home Hardware, the new expansion of the Waring House and marks a welcoming entrance to the Picton area.

The County has received some wonderful news from our Provincial and Federal governments with the announcement of money coming to the County in support of the building of the Wellington Community Centre and County Youth Park in Picton. These projects will be great assets.

The Provincial government has been on a summer recess so there has been no further word on the implementation of the “Tourism Competitiveness Report”. We will keep you informed as information comes in.

Our office has received many calls and emails regarding the proposed Wind Farm developments in the County and we have been asked to issue a statement against the development. As our organization is made up of many members with diverse opinions, we cannot make a statement for or against however, your Chamber would like to have member feedback on this important issue. Please fill out the enclosed survey and return it to us. PECCTAC will send the survey results and comments to our local and provincial government representatives. In addition we keep our members informed of important and informative meetings on topics that could have an effect on member businesses.

Although the Board of Directors has adjourned for the summer, we continue to work hard with all our partners and we look forward to September when we can plan for next year.

A strong membership makes strong Chamber members.

Dave

If you drive by Carrying Place and are looking for the Welcome Centre, it has moved!

The Welcome Centre is located at Sprenkle’s Meat & Variety at 22186 Loyalist Pkwy. This year we have students assisting travellers at this Welcome Centre thanks to funding through the Bay of Quinte Tourist Council.

We also want to thank Jerry Sprenkle and their staff for their support.

The Prince Edward County Chamber of Tourism & Commerce has been an active participant of the BYOB project.

The key reason that BYOB has been a big success to date is the continued support to help local youth establish their own businesses and gain new entrepreneurial skills that will help them in their future careers as business people.

So far this year The East Central Ontario Training Board has hosted 3 youth entrepreneur camps that involved approximately 200 local students in full day activities and learning, with another 2 camps to be held in the fall. The feedback from the students has been very positive.

To date there has been 9 young entrepreneurs accepted into the program for support and access to the $3,000 startup grant.

Some great businesses have already begun, ranging from a construction and design business, a database management company to a masonry company. It is the goal to increase the number of participants before the end of this worthy initiative.

TOURISM AMBASSADOR (C-TAT) PROGRAM

Update:

Community Living Prince Edward & Prince Edward Learning Centre are partnering to offer County Tourism Ambassador Training to adults supported by Community Living. The participants are all working and volunteering in The County and Belleville, and the training will help them to be even more effective in their jobs.
The training will run over a 4 week period: July 22 & 29 and August 5 & 12; 9:30am – 12:00pm. Anyone wishing to be a guest speaker or offer support, can call Lori @ 613-476-1811.

INCREASE YOUR BUSINESS

Attention AAPEC Members

The AAPEC (Webervations) calendar is set so visitors
know what you have available.

If you are listed on any other website be sure the
availability calendar is directed to YOUR AAPEC calendar
and has a weblink to www.pecchamber.com.

Next Meet & Greet:

October 20: Loyalist Lofts
December 8: Brown's Manor B&B

+ Economic Planning Group (Tourism Consultants)

+ Chestnut Park Real Estate Ltd.

Thank you for your support!

PECCTAC is interested in securing your input on the potential impact of WIND FARMS being built in Prince Edward County.

Please take a couple of minutes to complete the SURVEY.

The results of this survey will be forwarded to the Mayor and Councillors of Prince Edward County as well as our MPP Mrs. Leona Dombrowsky.

Once completed please send or drop off to PECCTAC at 116 Main St., Picton.

CLICK HERE

to download the SURVEY
(PDF-Format)

(Discontiinued after Oct 1, 2009)

It’s been an interesting year to say the least. The Visitor’s Office has been very busy so we are very pleased to have Dylan Marecak helping us out.

Dylan was born in Kingston, ON and re-located to the Quinte area in 2005. Dylan graduated from Bayside Secondary School this past June and is fully bilingual, having spent 14 years in French Immersion. This fall he will be attending the University of Guelph.

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce is reminding businesses throughout Ontario to be vigilant in protecting their operations and employees from possible effects of a global pandemic, by issuing an updated pandemic planning guide.

“The quick reaction to the situation occurring in Mexico shows us that we have learned a great deal from past experiences, and yet, research continues to show that while many businesses are aware of the possible impacts of a pandemic, few have made preparations so that they can deal with this possibility,” explains Len Crispino, President & CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.
The Pandemic Planning Tool Kit was first released in January 2007 to businesses across the province in an effort to minimize disruption to the province’s economy in the case of a pandemic or other widespread emergency. A national survey confirmed in 2008 that half of Canadian businesses over 500 employees still have no plan to manage a pandemic.

The tool kit includes the following:

• Estimates of potential staff absences
• Legislative requirements governing staff absences during an emergency and subsequent return to work
• List of possible effects to services and business operations
• Prevention techniques to limit the spread of disease
• Business continuity checklist

Additional resources:

The Pandemic Planning Tool Kit is available at: http://occ.on.ca/pandemic-planning-tool-kit