VIDEO: Kelowna sets the agenda for BC Chamber

If every Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade in BC came to last week's provincial AGM with eight policy initiatives there would have been a thousand of them to sort through. Thankfully there were far fewer than that, but Kelowna came in with eight. As new Chamber president Nikki Csek told us, all eight of them were approved by the BC Chamber.

In her first sit-down interview with KelownaNow since taking on the presidency of the Kelowna Chamber, Csek was full of enthusiasm and proud of the great policies the local chamber brought to last week's AGM.

"The one I found most interesting was the 'crush and credit' policy," said Csek. The policy proposes financial incentives to encourage more private sector participation in the recycling sector. In particular, there is a desire to see vending machine style recycling where you put your empty cans and bottles in and the deposit money comes out.

Another interesting one is an aerospace innovation cluster. "We know that we have pilot shortages," pointed out Csek.

The Kelowna list also included "share a handshake". It calls for a streamlined process of getting people and goods back and forth across the border by reducing redundancies in paperwork and other hold-ups.

Rounding out the list were transportation improvements, support for our tree fruit industry, more rental housing, an end to the speculation tax, and a shift to the use of Physician Extenders, to add efficiency to our healthcare sector.

"It was absolutely exciting," said Csek. Describing how 400 people go through the 81 policy proposals one by one. "To actually watch that was fascinating to me." she said.

And as for Kelowna going 8 for 8?

"I'm always proud," said Csek. "We're always looked to as a leader."

Nikki Csek is the CEO of Csek Creative which is a sister company KelownaNow.