Podcast

Peter Handley:
Hi there and good day! Welcome to North Bay’s Heritage Diary. Listen up and we shall weave for you tales of days and times gone by, which can inform today and show the way to tomorrow. This Municipal Heritage Committee podcast looks at our town, our people and our stories. This time we open the diary of our shared past and talk about the relationship and importance of the Chamber of Commerce and the history of the City of North Bay. It’s played a major role. We’re talking with this logical choice when it comes down to this, Patty Carr - with Chamber of Commerce for over 30 years, Executive Director for many years, currently VP of Policy and Communications. Your card says: “the voice of business in North Bay and area since 1894”…

Patti Carr:
Absolutely - a very long time.

Peter Handley:
It started as the Board of Trade, just 12 years after the Lucy Dalton came into North Bay. Have you done any research on that? Obviously you weren’t around then…

Patti Carr:
I wasn't around them, but people think I have been there for such a long time that I'm part of the history. Of course, the Chamber or actually the Board of Trade at the time… when they created the Board of Trade, it was an old men’s club or gentlemen’s club. Many have talked about that in the past and it was. It was a group of business people really wanting to promote the city and that's what the core business of the Board of Trade is. Of course, as the years went by there were still a lot of men involved all the way through and they did change it to a Chamber of Commerce which is a global name for chambers to…

Peter Handley:
Did that change its direction at all?

Patti Carr:
Not really, because the Board of Trade was actually the key wording for tradespeople and once they wanted to instill across that is was more common… and there are still Boards of Trade today. However, they wanted to install a common goal Chamber of Commerce. You know, promotion, economic development that type of thing.

Peter Handley:
So if I if I labelled the Chamber of Commerce/Board of Trade or what you call it… Their main goal is what?

Patti Carr:
Promoting businesses. It’s a large associations so across the world. Every area has a Chamber of Commerce or a Board of Trade and of course its promotion of business.

Peter Handley:
What role has that taken here in promotion of business? I mean, has it changed?

Patti Carr:
It has changed over the years here. I think we got away from our core business at a time. However, some may disagree. Of course, we got strongly and tourism but that is one of the sectors. So, we would always promote tourism of course, however, we got too much into it as a Regional Tourist Information Centre and our board just recently changed that direction to encompass all businesses.

Peter Handley:
How do you mean you got too much involved in the tourism and was the Dionne the start of that?

Patti Carr:
Yes actually, and it actually was a good fit at the time. Of course, the building was being built out at the highway for the Regional Tourist Information Centre, the city did not want to operate it. At that time, the Chamber was forefront in saying we had a small Information Centre on the highway for many years so it was sort of the right fit for the Chamber at the time and the Dionne Museum was going to go elsewhere right down to Niagara Falls at the time, so there was a huge push to keep it here and keep the history and this year in the region so the Chamber was the right fit at the time to take over the Information Centre and the Museum.

Peter Handley:
What was the most important time, in your estimation, for tourism in North Bay? Was it the Dionne years? Was it in the 50s? Was it after the war?

Patti Carr:
Certainly we were a one lane cow path if you want to call it that from Toronto when the Dionne sisters were born and it did, eventually, with the numbers of people coming, have to change to a two lane paved highway from Toronto. So that certainly was a huge draw at that time. I would say because of our lakes - I mean we’re in God's country here and because of our lakes and very strong, back in the 50s and 60s, fishing, hunting that type of thing. I think that was a strong area. You used go down Lakeshore and every second building was a motel/hotel/cottage that type of thing. We have that glorious lake that people wanted to be at for their vacation time and it wasn't too far north even though you know the highways are getting better now, but even at that time it was a nice area to come and visit from the southern portion of Canada as well as the US.

Peter Handley:
You mentioned the US… When I came here in the late 50s, it seemed to me that every second car was from Ohio. At least in my memory… Was that a strong state?

Patti Carr:
Ohio was but also Michigan and a number of the northern states. There were huge promotions at that time about hunting and fishing and the people had money. Also, their dollar was strong. That's changed over the years we've gone where we were stronger and then of course it’s come back again, but they had money and that hunting and fishing experience for them was very true and to be out in the outdoors.

Peter Handley:
I can recall when the radio station was out on the hill and Bruce Ruggles was the radio program director and he had a program basically live because we’re on the escarpment we would go down to the highway at the lookout there and stop tourists. He’d see a car with an Ohio lisence plate or whaever and he’d talk to them about what they liked about the area. What's the tourists’ role now?

Patti Carr:
When we decided that we were going to go back to the basics of being a Chamber and promoting everybody, we did implement a project that brought in an actual agency called Tourism North Bay. So there is a few different roles with them… Promotion - we've gotten away or the province actually took out all the tourist agencies at one point and put in larger RTOs which are Regional Tourist Operations and unfortunately didn't really capture our local or regional areas very well. We recognized that City of North Bay had taken out their tourism department some time ago. We weren’t going to do the Regional Tourist Information Centre, but people are doing everything on social media and/or websites, phones nowadays, GPS… They already have their trip planned, but we still have to promote the area. So, Tourism North Bay, number one, is to promote the area to people again - maybe it's the northern states or do the geography or further data to find out where people are coming from. A lot of international people are visiting again – it’s slow but it's coming. So Tourism North Bay, that was their immediate thing to take on and they're having a book come out very shortly in the fall for our region. They go to shows, whether it’s sportsman's shows or outdoor shows or snowmobiling or whatever the case may be. So again were getting our name out there as a good place to come and visit. They are also with a number of conferences and events - helping those groups that want to bring an event here make sure that they can actually have all the facilities available and can coordinate that type of thing. So, it's been very good for them, but they're just starting.

Peter Handley:
Does that work? Did that work for you? It’s more difficult now isn’t it?

Patti Carr:
Well, I'm not as involved in it which is okay but I mean I can step up to the plate when they need help on an event or anything like that. I have the experience and that type of information. It is difficult. The older generation that still does travel really doesn't like being online. However, the younger generation, we were having such a decrease in people stopping in the Information Centre. It didn't make sense anymore. We were we were paying a lot of money to keep the building open when nobody was coming in and if they were it was just to use the washroom.

Peter Handley:
Or the water.

Patti Carr:
The water yeah and actually it wasn't always just tourist by any means. It was regional people and local people that would come in and fill up barrels every day of water whether they were on a well or needed potable water.

Peter Handley:
You mentioned your small… Was that the original office on Main Street East? That log cabin?

Patti Carr:
They didn't even really have an office - they had an office in the Empire Hotel at one point or that's where they met years ago. However, the one on Main Street, yes, the log cabin where Northern Credit Union is now was pretty much the first Chamber office on Main Street and then they had a small Information Centre out by corner Fisher Street and the highway.

Peter Handley:
Okay and then you moved to Seymour Street.

Patti Carr:
When the building in 1986 was built over on Seymour - the larger building and the museum was being moved there. That's when we moved to that location.

Peter Handley:
And now you’re back on Main Street?

Patti Carr:
Back on Main Street, it’s incredible after all these years.

Peter Handley:
You mentioned a book. Now, I know at least four books that the Board of Trade or Chamber of Commerce was involved with. The first goes back to 1909 – Anson Gard’s ‘Gateway to Silverland’ then there’s a couple of books involving Michael Barnes, ‘Gateway City’ and ‘The Best of Hartley Trussler’s North Bay’ and then Bill Steer’s ‘Boosting the Bay’. There's a lot of great information in all of them. Is that a good vehicle for the Chamber of Commerce?

Patti Carr:
Absolutely. The Chamber had a huge history and it really needed to be documented. So, way back when the first city lights or streetlights were put in, the chamber was instrumental in doing that for City of North Bay. There were so many other things as the years went on… one of the big items that the former manager Glen DeVuono was so proud of was that they purchased a small piece of land down at the waterfront that was all rock and basically garbage and they did a huge cleanup down by the Government Dock, eventually giving that over to the city and that was kind of the start of our North Bay waterfront. So he was very proud and they did a lot of time and volunteer work to do all that. So the Chamber has been instrumental in a lot of different things whether it was the North Bay-Mattawa Conservation Authority and getting that up and running. They still continue the Canoe Race… well; the Chamber started the Canoe Race from Ville Marie down. The cleanup of abandoned cars that got to be a problem back in the 70s, I believe the early 70s, the Chamber went out and collected all these vehicles just to beautify. So it could be anything from whether it's promoting tourism, whether it's promoting businesses in different sectors to overall making sure the community is better served.

Peter Handley:
I’ve gone through a lot of these books doing research for our Heritage Site Plaques and it's surprising… Of course these are Chamber of Commerce books and they are meant to promote the Chamber of Commerce, that’s why you got into it. But, it's amazing in other books about North Bay, Cup Gunning’s books for example, great books and it's amazing the number of times a Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade is mentioned for pushing this or advocating for that or going to Ottawa to push North Bay here or there or whatever. Some of these things you were behind… This is a thorny topic I guess, but in 1929 -the Georgian Bay waterway was a big project for years.

Patti Carr:
It's funny when we go back through all the different documentation of how things come around sometimes and we have talked about Georgian waterway for many many years. Of course, the connection is there. You know it's amazing what has happened over the years for our area. I mean, how we start as a railway town, people going through and finding a location that was perfect and suitable for that, we’re at the crossroads of the main TransCanada Highways. There is so much going on. The Georgian Bay issue - I don't know if it'll ever get resolved, but I'd highly doubt it.

Peter Handley:
What was that? Remind me again.

Patti Carr:
Oh, I'm sorry. We were looking at seaway or connection from Georgian Bay for shipping and all that type of thing coming in to North Bay. We’ve also had the damn issues there as well. You know, electricity is great and even problems with the levels of the lake and potential flooding as opening the dam down to the French River, which again can cause more flooding, but it's our connection to one of the Great Lakes.

Peter Handley:
The Airport – You were behind the airport from day one?

Patti Carr:
Absolutely and we still do a lot with the airport to nowadays. You know that's the next biggest industrial park type thing for the city. The airport itself has a 10,000 foot runway. We don't want to ever lose that. That's very important to our community for economic development. But the airport was important, especially with the airbase and we had such a huge contingent from CFB North Bay and for many years we had the fighter squadron and things like that. We still have a good contingent up there and they are part of our community. So we've always promoted that area as well.

Peter Handley:
Also the sewage disposal plant?

Patti Carr:
We’ve been involved in everything haven’t we?

Peter Handley:
I’m just thinking about the the number of things that you pushed for. Do you encourage or did the Board of Trade or Chamber of Commerce encourage its members, or at least its Chair, to become politically involved? In other words to try and pull a little bit of weight and go to the Mayor and say, “look, we’ve got 17 businesses here and we’d like to whatever”.

Patti Carr:
Actually, over the years that is one of the big things not only promoting the Chamber members, but also advocacy. I would say advocacy more so than political realm. Unfortunately, some did going to politics. Don't get me wrong, however, and that's my new role really as VP of policy - I had it as part of Executive Director, but really it's fighting government on issues that will affect business. So if it is an issue for even one of our members, let alone if it is for all of them… they don't have the time or the energy or sometimes they’re a little bit too afraid to go out in public say that there is an issue so we will absolutely commend any government that does something good for business. However, it's usually something that comes up and the government isn't thinking of how it's going to affect people as a whole. So we do a lot of research on different policies that may affect business. So in the end we do deal with our MP, MPP, and our Mayors and now I say Mayors because we have a region and so it certainly is a portion of my job…

Peter Handley:
Oh that’s right because you’re North Bay & District?

Patti Carr:
Yes, we are North Bay & District Chamber of Commerce and we always were.

Peter Handley:
When did you become that?

Patti Carr:
Well in ‘56 when it changed to North Bay Chamber of Commerce. You’re actually designated by a region through the industry - Canada's Board of Trade Act and our region was Nipissing. So, it only made sense even though we were called the North Bay Chamber of Commerce because we have businesses in the outlying area saying you don't represent us. So it made sense and we try to strive, we are North and District. So if it's something down in Bonfield area or Callander is a little bit split because part of it is Parry Sound. But we certainly want to be there for all the businesses because you know what, they have people that live in North Bay and work in their businesses down in those areas or the other way around. They have people that work in North Bay and have residence there.

Peter Handley:
You had a lot of weight back in the day. And I know you talk about advocacy… I can recall your chairs regularly coming to Council meetings and advocating for this, that and the other thing. I can recall one of them who later went into politics advocating for whatever it was and I remember saying, “you’re so behind this, why don’t you run for council?” because he was saying that Council should do this and that and he did and he got on. He’s not the only one. What has your relationship been in your time with Mayors and Council? Would you say it's… I’ll just use the term and you can either agree or disagree… armed neutrality?

Patti Carr:
Yes.

Peter Handley:
Does that make sense?

Patti Carr:
It does for me as a staff person. I know my role as a manager or staff person of the Chamber of Commerce, some do get very political from our board standpoint, and some people didn’t like that because they felt it was a conflict of interest. I have to say that currently, our Mayor, our MP and our MPP are all past presidents of the Chamber of Commerce. For many years we had quite a few past Presidents as well as past Directors on City Council. So, people thought “are they really doing it for the community as a whole or are they still business side?” You did see people going in their own avenues, even from a Chamber side and I'd be going “no, we’re advocating for business here, you have to be along that line.” Not that it was bad because these people did have aspirations and they've done good things, whatever level of politics they went into. I always said that you’d never see me there because my role is to be able to still work with these people or go up against them if I didn't agree with what was happening and I'm getting from our members that that's not helping them. I will still go up against them and say I've done some research, this is what the Chamber is thinking and what the members are telling us” and trying to be a mediator. We didn't win all of them. We certainly didn't win all the different fights, but we certainly made them think about different things. We did win some and we’re proud of our record that you know they needed to really take that issue and take it forward in and do something with it.

Peter Handley:
Can you give me an example?

Patti Carr:
The Economic Development Department here – a wonderful group, they had implemented a business retention and expansion program. It was very new. The province had put that out. They’re done everywhere though, I mean, the United States, and all across Canada. But there were little issues that we never knew even existed. So something like we had a business that we attended and didn't even know that they had not had potable water for a year. The owner had started to look into it and whatever; he got busy and just brought in water that type of thing. This may be a small win as far as I'm concerned, but we had it fixed in two days working with the city. Absolutely it was just a miscommunication; the employer didn't know who to call and just thought you know, I'll just keep bringing in potable water for my staff and there is no reason that it couldn't have been fixed, but I guess got off track when whoever they called it didn't get done.

Peter Handley:
Do you remember something you lost?

Patti Carr:
Oh, yeah let me see. I don't want to…

Peter Handley:
Give me something that you had to bring before Council and they decided no?

Patti Carr:
Again, things change all the time, but we were advocating hugely when they were putting in Bill 148 which was a bill through the province of changes to the employment act and labour relations, and we did lose. We lost very big and it was huge problem for businesses to take those changes in and put them in effect because it was it was happening so quickly.

Peter Handley:
That was the change in hourly rate… Was this a Provincial push for the Chambers?

Patti Carr:
Yes and actually, the hourly rate was not the big issue and that's all that the media took was this hourly rate. But it was not the big issue; there were 79 other policy changes that were actually going to hurt businesses a lot bigger than this $14 an hour. We’re talking about, you know, emergency call-ins - things that we consider emergency services, but you had to give two days’ notice and things like that. There were many different things that by the time you added them all up, it was going to be detrimental. A lot of our businesses are small businesses and we’re not talking like small business that you know Canada says 100 or less employees – we’re talking 10 or less employees.

Peter Handley:
Are you still bitter about that? Do you get over things?

Patti Carr:
You know what, if I didn't I think I would've gone crazy.

Peter Handley:
What about the Chamber, does it get over it?

Patti Carr:
Yeah. Well I guess maybe in my position, because I was there for so long and people have to do their own roles but I think I probably led people to understand “you know what, we didn’t win that one but we can win other ones.” There are many other policies that I would say that we've had some input into have come out more positive than they would have if they were implemented as is and unfortunately with Bill 148, or fortunately I guess, the government changed. So again, every four years. That gets tedious every four years something can change. I’m a little tired of candidate’s debates and things like that. Issues haven't changed, but we need to move forward and get stuff done

Peter Handley:
He was before your time… I guess he would've been around the time that Glen DeVuono was a key person in the Chamber of Commerce, but it was Merle Dickerson. My question is, what role did he play do you think, and does the chamber think Merle played in putting North Bay on the map?

Patti Carr:
He was certainly before my time, but wow the stories we hear about Merle Dickeson… He did stuff and he did it his own way, absolutely. He was very huge promoter of North Bay and didn't care what anybody else thought. I loved it. In my mind, I thought that was pretty impressive. There's been other people I guess over the years that really do like to promote Nortrh Bay but Merle I think was a time of huge change for North Bay. He got into trouble a lot…

Peter Handley:
Well yeah, he did the sled dogs and that sort of thing…

Patti Carr:
Winter Carnival – that was a Chamber thing!

Peter Handley:
There were more conferences held during different organizations held here during Merle's time than any other term that I can recall.

Patti Carr:
He had his contacts, absolutely. I think we’re trying to get to that point again. I think you're seeing huge things like the World Curling and the Pinty’s Curling coming. We've had a number of other conferences and things like that. It all comes down to finances and location that we have the ability to host. But, with Merle, you know what I think he was really out there and forward. The Chamber at the time, I think, didn't agree with everything I would say. I believe, if I remember correctly, I could be wrong on this one, but George Lowe who was President of the Chamber at the time had gone to Council and called it a gong show actually but that was because there were so many different politicians with different opinions, but Merle was ahead of that. I could be wrong on the dates but I thought that was that one of the councils that… But like I said, Merle did things didn't care what anybody thought.

Peter Handley:
Glen Devuono … What was his role in the Chamber? He was there for a long time.

Patti Carr:
33 years. Yes, actually the title at that time was called Secretary Manager. He had come from working for newspaper up in Wawa and he got the job after Mel Malo and prior to Mel Malo was Bruce McLeod. So we only had three managers in the time period of chambers. A lot of it is always done by volunteers so that was quite… and he was the longest-serving… 33 years and then I took over for him. Unfortunately, due to his health he couldn't continue and we just lost him last year actually.

Peter Handley:
So, what do you think his main contribution was?

Patti Carr:
I have to say that number one Glen knew his history and Glen knew his contacts fully. He was my little historian whenever I had to ask about something that was way back when I wasn't around and he could tell me all the details of that. He was also a little bit of a packrat, so we had a lot of stuff that he kept over the years, but his big note and he said, always said it was the North Bay waterfront. People don't realize that it was the Chamber that actually started that process.

Peter Handley:
Bruce McLeod… I didn’t realize that he’d run the Chamber.

Patti Carr:
Yes.

Peter Handley:
Later wound up in the media and wound up broadcasting out of New York, running a television station here and then opening up the FM station here – CKAT.

Patti Carr:
You can read about him in the “Boosting the Bay” book. Yeah, I'm serious.

Peter Handley:
Mel Malo was a big guy?


Patti Carr:
Yes, Mel Malo… He was here for a few years and people respected him as well. It just so happened that he was leaving and Glen applied for the job and he was a young little whippersnapper and came into the role.

Peter Handley:
Reunions… Do you have anything to do with the reuinions? I’m thinking of the one in 1925 with the book.

Patti Carr:
Old Home Week.

Peter Handley:
Yeah, Old Home Week when North Bay became a City in ’25. The catalogue put out for that was simply marvelous.

Patti Carr:
That was… The Chamber was very involved and I can still see the pictures of the board on Main Streets and all the different things happening down at that time.

Peter Handley:
Was there one somewhere around 1960? Some sort of a reunion?

Patti Carr:
I’m sorry, I don’t recall…In the 60s I remember the Winter Carnival, the Ville Marie Canoe Race and all that type of thing. I'm sorry, I don't know if there was one in the 60s.

Peter Handley:
Some of your Chamber people have been very strong… I’m thinking of Dick Tafel.

Patti Carr:
Absolutely.

Peter Handley:
Basically the Chamber and Dick started that Canoe Race and then eventually even Bruce Goulet got involved in the development of the North Bay Canoe Club so that's another side effect of the Chamber’s work.

Patti Carr:
We had some really strong Presidents and Directors on the board and I think they were all with the same view that you know you're going to improve the community whether it's through business or whatever. Dick Tafel, what a wonderful man - His law background was very helpful at times, I’m sure and of course the race. He’s such an outdoorsman. We hear even today about all his birdwatching and he’s a very intelligent man on the environment and in that type of thing. So with that we've had very strong people over the years that you know step up to the plate and give back.

Peter Handley:
Are there any other names… People that made a difference in your opinion?

Patti Carr:
You know what, everybody was a different Chair or President and we always say it from a Chamber or staff point that you always get into a marriage of one or two years with these different people. My hope is that someday, during my term I haven’t had it yet was a female President. The last one was Marie Marchand as I was starting at the Chamber and before that was Daphne Mayne - a wonderful lady who also was a President of the Chamber. So in the full history of North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce we’ve had two women Chairs or Presidents.

Peter Handley:
Was that because women weren't owning businesses back then?

Patti Carr:
Well certainly prior to that thought that time women were just starting into entrepreneurship or owning a business. Prior to that, I've seen… It makes me laugh when I see a ticket for an old Annual General Meeting and said “Dinner – $2.50… Wives Welcome”. I still laugh at that - I'm thinking okay well that's really nice, like the wives were finally welcomed at an Annual General Meeting that they have the gall of putting that on a ticket for one thing. But no, I think we've had some very strong women on our board through the years after that. Don't get me wrong, we've had some very strong women. Our Board make up I think it’s more than half now of women to men. So things are changing. Whether it's the time commitment to being the President or the Chair or… The women are getting involved. I have to say that. I don't know how else to say. But you know, I'm looking forward to maybe in a year or two that we have somebody coming up the ranks that will take over as President.

Peter Handley:
Your aim is to have 100% of businesses in the area become members of the Chamber of Commerce because that makes you more powerful. What would you say was the highest percentage of members and what is it now?

Patti Carr:
I would say that we were probably at the 35 to 40% at one point and we’re still fairly close to that maybe 33%. There are about 2400 businesses and we have 700 and some odd businesses that are members so I think we have done very well.

Peter Handley:
Are you happy with that?

Patti Carr:
I am happy with that. I would always love more. Don't get me wrong, and in that the reason we say it's voice businesses because the strength of having all those voices at the table, but they don't want to be the forefront going to City Council saying “this is hurting me”. It's a small town, so of course you have to also think you know you don't want to upset anybody and so that's our role as what is we have no problem going and saying… We don't have to name names, but we certainly put out there that you know the businesses are having a challenge due to XYZ. You were actually asking about some other Presidents and, of course, I always believe that Victor Fedeli has done a great job. He retired at an early age and has done a number of other things since then. Maybe like yes, his political career, but Airbase Property Corp. was very big…

Peter Handley:
Yes – he was the Chair!

Patti Carr:
And that was a Chamber appointment so, the Chamber had two seats on that Airbase Property Corp. to start.

Peter Handley:
He was very organized.

Patti Carr:
Yes.

Peter Handley:
I don’t want to use the term agenda, but he's got a plan.

Patti Carr:
Yes, absolutely. I mean, he's has to follow political will at times but, you know, Victor has always been very steady in knowing what he thinks would be best for the City and Airbase Property Corp. was a volunteer position by the way. We have those hangers still standing today, we have huge Voyager Airways wonderful company up there employing a lot of people and you know we wouldn't have that today if that wasn't still there.

Peter Handley:
Is the role of the Chamber of Commerce changing? Is it less important now than it was back in the 30s?

Patti Carr:
I hope not. I think the role that has changed with it is that we have a bigger network. Back in the 30s, they were all independent of each other, that type of thing. We have more power with all the other Chambers in Ontario working for the provincial policies and that type of thing. We have more collective voices across Canada with Canadian Chambers of Commerce… All the small Chambers don't have the ability to be doing everything every day with policy so it's a group effort. Voices get even bigger when you can do it as a collective. So I think in that role as advocacy we are doing a good job. I think for promotion of businesses, things have changed to social media and things like that but we’re absolutely willing to go along with that and promote our businesses in a better manner. Maybe we didn't do that as well before. The other benefits of being a chamber member… There are quite a few that people wouldn't even realize like the group insurance and things like that – a lot of business owners don't have insurance, health insurance, and of course that's big. We try our best to add discounts for employees so that's an incentive if you can't, maybe always given increase every year for to your employees, there are added benefits so that they’re working in so that they can be a part of. Like I said, I think we were in tourism too dee[ and spending money that we should not have on of members that maybe are not in tourism. So there's different things over the years that I think we've had to change with the times and absolutely I think that chambers are relevant still to this day. I think we’re also going into more of doing services that you wouldn't expect per se, but we do it fee-for-service. We’re doing an immigration program right now.

Peter Handley:
I was going to ask you about that… There’s a big push right now?

Patti Carr:
Well it made a huge difference. I mean we worked with great partners and all the details are still being hashed out, but our area did get an immigration pilot from Immigration Canada – one of 11 across Canada. So, I'm very proud of that. Actually, I have to tell you, I was working with Economic Development hugely on the first script of what we were submitting and we were sitting there shaking our heads going “oh my gosh, this is huge” and then halfway through we were like, “oh my gosh we have a 50-50 chance of actually getting this” and then by the end of it, we were like, “wow, we have a strong proposal” and it was just because all the partners came together and we were recognizing what services we already had for if we were to get immigrants here in North Bay. It's not to take anybody else's jobs of the current people here. These are specific jobs that are in high demand and we have been trying for five years to fill them or we know that the education system is not putting out enough people to fill the gaps that we are going to need. So it's good to be very specific. It's going to be very slow and done very slowly to make sure that these people that are going to fill these jobs are welcomed, are retained in our area and do not go back to a more metropolitan area - so there's a lot of different pieces to it.

Peter Handley:
You’re mentioning education… It’s interesting because I remember Jack Burrows convened a whole series of meetings with business people – one a month for I don’t know how many months. The main thing that came out of that was something that you alluded to - that a lot of these businesses could not get skilled workers because they weren’t being taught the skills and there were a lot of skilled, blue collar, wonderful jobs. Anyways… bright future for the Chamber?

Patti Carr:
I hope so! I think I’m going to be there for a little bit longer as long as they don’t fire me tomorrow, but I really enjoy it – it’s different every day, Peter. Frustrating at times, yes, but I can’t imagine a better employment opportunity or career that I’ve had.

Peter Handley:
Thanks Patti. Patti Carr - Chamber Of Commerce for over 30 Years. Currently Vice President of Policy & Communications. Thank you for spending some time with us and listening to our stories. These productions are put together by the Municipal Heritage Committee not only to retell old tales, but hopefully to kindle interest in area history. Local lore is important to any community and we shouldn't let it go unremarked and unremembered. Views expressed in this podcast are not necessarily those of the Corporation of the City of North Bay or its employees. Join us next time when we flip another page of the diary of our shared past. You can reach us at peter.carello@cityofnorthbay.ca. Production – Kealey Ducharme. Pete Handley speaking.