Good morning, and thank you for the invitation to appear before this committee.
My name is Darcy Griffith, and I am the president of the Temiskaming Shores and Area Chamber of Commerce. With me today are Joline Rivard, a director with the Chamber of Commerce; James Franks, the economic development and funding coordinator with the community growth and planning department of the City of Temiskaming Shores; and Lois Weston-Bernstein, the business manager, with the chamber of commerce as well.
The Temiskaming Shores and Area Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit organization composed of businesses, professionals, residents, and community groups working together to ensure a healthy economic and socio-economic base to benefit the entire community. We serve the area from Earlton to Latchford, and from Temiskaming Shores to Elk Lake, including Cobalt, Coleman, and the south Temiskaming area.
We currently have a base of 385 member businesses, which represent almost half of the eligible businesses and organizations in our catchment area. Our member businesses range from national organizations employing people across Canada, to local manufacturing and service businesses with scores of employees, to single person entrepreneurs. That is a true snapshot of business in the south Temiskaming area.
The majority of our operating funds come from membership dues, although we also receive limited municipal funding to operate an inbound tourism information centre, and some federal and provincial funding to hire summer staff to assist in local tourism initiatives. The largest urban centre in the area is the City of Temiskaming Shores, which was created by the amalgamation of New Liskeard, Haileybury, and Dymond, in 2004. It serves as the regional hub for business services, shopping, entertainment, and dining.
Indeed, the availability, variety, and number of businesses in the Temiskaming Shores area and the neighbouring communities far exceeds what we would expect for the population of the area alone, and is only possible given the size of the catchment area from which patrons come. This catchment area extends into the province of Quebec, and due to the invisible nature of the interprovincial border, allows shoppers from both sides to drive to the neighbouring province to find the goods and services they need. The Temiskaming Shores and Area Chamber of Commerce has members not only from Ontario but also from the communities located in Quebec as well.
As for the use of language in the area, the most recent federal census indicates that while the primary language spoken in south Temiskaming is English, a large proportion of residents, approximately 30%, learned French as their first language. Coupled with the fact that the City of Temiskaming Shores is less than 25 kilometres from the Quebec border, it is easy to see how doing business in both official languages is a daily occurrence for our member businesses.