PREPARE. PERSEVERE. PROSPER. The Resilience of Canada’s Business Community in 2020 ANNUAL 20 REPORT 20 Because Business Matters. 1 TO OUR MEMBERS Ten months and counting. We are now only a short time away from marking a full year of dealing with COVID-19 in Canada. A year of Canadian businesses continues to be, focused on the needs struggling to stay afloat. A year of us of businesses in every community not being able to meet in person. A from east to west, north to south. This year of adapting our own business has brought a singular clarity to our models to adjust to the new realities of advocacy efforts. Regional, provincial, our members and our customers. territorial and federal governments have heard the exact same message from our The economic impact of COVID-19 Canadian Business Resilience Network. — the first shutdown, the second wave and the new lockdowns — has At a time when many other business been nothing short of devastating to associations have struggled or have businesses everywhere. closed their doors, the Canadian Chamber and its chamber network have As Canadians, we prepared and never had more respect or influence persevered during 2020. In the moment with decision-makers. Governments of greatest need, chambers across have sought our advice on how to this country rose to the challenge develop policies that will strengthen and found innovative ways to help Canadian businesses. Together, we their members keep their doors open. have helped shape decisions that truly And many businesses stepped up to matter for our economy. Our annual help their communities weather this report highlights some of the ways we economic storm. have delivered change for our members We have come together in a way we and our communities. We hope you will have never been asked to before. review all that we have accomplished Our collective voice has been, and together in 2020. 2 We wish we could tell you the hard The new vaccines, the safety protocols, part is behind us. However, despite and the improvements in personal the amazing breakthroughs that have protective equipment will create Our Purpose and Value 4 resulted in safe and effective vaccines, the necessary health safety net that C the massive challenge of rebuilding Canadians need to move forward. And O 2020 5 our economy from the effects of business will provide the opportunities for COVID-19 remains. The best hope for Canadians to prosper once again. Make N In Other News... 14 a better future is to start planning to no mistake, this recovery will be business- T By the Numbers 16 build one, and we know it will start with led. We are grateful that you will be part E our network of over 200,000 businesses. of our network, making it happen from Some Wins from 2020 18 As business leaders, we don’t have Antigonish to Abbotsford, from Windsor N Thank You 20 the luxury of waiting for a recovery to to Whitehorse and every community in T happen because we are the ones who between. And our chamber network will S Our Board of Directors 23 will help shape it. be right there beside our members every step of the way. Our Staff 26 Canada’s economic recovery couldn’t be in better hands. With your input, Your support and your efforts for business Our Committees 28 your insight and your influence from over 2020 have made the difference. Our Working Groups 30 Main Street to Bay Street, we will push With your continued commitment, forward. Each of us must have a hand we will build a brighter future for all in Canada’s recovery. Canadians. Hon. Perrin Beatty, PC, OC Mario Thériault President and CEO Chair of the Board of Directors 3 OUR PURPOSE AND VALUE We help build the businesses that support our families, our communities and our country. We do this by influencing government policy and by providing the services your business needs. We connect you to information you can use, to opportunities and to a network of local chambers, businesses, decision-makers and peers from across the country, in every sector of the economy and at all levels of government, as well as internationally. We are unwavering in our support for business and the vital role it plays in building and sustaining our great nation. 4 20 20 A year that started like any other. All of us had plans for our organizations. We were firing on all cylinders. Ramping up. It was the start of a new decade. are interconnected. 2020 brought that A leap year. An election year south interconnectivity and interdependency of the border. Things to watch. New to light in a multitude of ways — the minority government in place. Much way we travel, the way we consume, to accomplish. the way we trade and more. It all changed. By having to disconnect, our 2020 was the year that business global economy is challenged like never became more than an image — before, and we have been forced to business was personified. No longer see the world through a different lens. was business an abstraction. Instead, The year 2020 changed us all. we came to see it as an independent café down the street that had to close because not doing so risked lives, or Because business matters. a family-owned grocery store that employs the friends who risked their Through the challenges, businesses lives to keep an essential operation rose to the occasion. Donations from open. Small businesses, large businesses businesses, large and small, were made — all would find their community and to communities and causes because their identity through the COVID-19 businesses are built in communities. New crisis. The world changed. ways of doing business were conceived because that is what was needed The breadth and depth of the to keep Canadians employed. Our pandemic that broke in mid-March Canadian Business Resilience Network would not be known immediately urged governments to ensure the but, soon enough, we all realized how right supports for business are in place much our collective way of life relies because our economy can’t recover on goods and services from around until business recovers. the corner and around the globe. We 5 JANUARY We charged out of the gate in 2020, ringing the bell on the floor of the Toronto Stock Exchange in advance of our inaugural thought leadership conference, the Canada 360° Economic Summit. At the Summit, we convened some of Canada’s greatest business minds, all coming together with a common purpose: to find and develop new ideas to grow our economy. The name of the Summit reflected our understanding that every Canadian and every business leader has a stake in our Phil Noble, our 2019-2020 Chair of the Board, shared economic future. addresses participants at our Canada 360° Economic Summit. FEBRUARY Rail blockades in February closed one of Canada’s most travelled rail P corridors, effectively shutting down one of Canada’s busiest trade routes. At O As we brought this coalition of this point, the vulnerability of Canadian L association leaders together, businesses and their supply chain I we were able to press for a management became apparent. (peaceful) end to the rail C blockades. Later in the year, Our solution was to use our convening we again worked with other capabilities and gather our chamber, Y associations to end a labour business and association colleagues dispute at the Port of Montreal around the table. Many of these W that threatened the delivery of organizations represent sectors and goods to businesses across businesses affected by these blockades, I the country. and we worked together to heighten N awareness of the damage these transportation shutdowns were inflicting on businesses and on communities. The experience of pulling these groups together provided a template that we would follow many times over the coming months. 6 MARCH In mid-March, the World Health we became familiar with daily team Organization declared COVID-19 videoconferences. We reached out P a pandemic. to our members, to the government, to the wider business community. O In the Fall Economic Statement, Shortly thereafter, the federal All of these stakeholders looked to L the government recognized government shut down much of us to help connect businesses and that the number of Canadians Canada. Travel was restricted. I stakeholders across the country. working remotely necessitated Canadians around the world were C creating a simplified deduction told to return home. The federal The sight of daily Prime Ministerial for working from home government closed its doors, as did COVID-19 briefings became familiar. Y expenses for employees and businesses across the country. On As the government began to roll employers. We estimate this March 16, #TeamChamber began out programs to help Canadians W decision eliminated as much working remotely — along with much weather the crisis, we gathered as 20 million pages of tax of Canada. our network via video calls — to I paperwork for Canadian hear their concerns and to share N employers in 2021. Unaware of how long this situation would information about what was last, we logged into our computers each available to help businesses in their day. Like so many other organizations, sectors and regions. We held a number of calls with our chamber network to seek input into our policy and advocacy work, to provide members with updates on government programs and CBRN initiatives and to engage with them about their experiences and the issues that are affecting their organizations and their member businesses. 7 APRIL By April, we knew that we had to jump deeper into this never-before- P seen critical situation.