Editor:
Re: "Chamber puts question to Ottawa brass" (Coast Reporter, Oct. 22).
Over the summer, our electoral district had several visitors. One of them was Siobhan Coady, the member of Parliament for St. John's South - Mount Pearl. In addition to being an astute business woman, Ms. Coady is a past chair and governor of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and was president of the St. John's Board of Trade in 1993. A group of us on the Coast wanted to have Ms. Coady speak to the community, especially local business owners, so we approached the Gibsons Chamber to do a luncheon with Coady as the speaker.
We were told by the Chamber staff and board members that Ms. Coady was a "political figure" and was not welcome to speak because, I gathered, the fear was she would make a political speech.
So I was surprised when I read the article about LeBreton, who has "worked for every single Conservative prime minister since Diefenbaker," as a guest of the Chamber. It seems that the decision about speakers for Chamber events was a subjective one.
It's clear to me that the subjectivity lies with Conservative membership, or at least non-Liberal membership. How else can I explain that a former chair of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (and Liberal MP) is not welcome to speak at a Chamber function, but a Conservative MP, and the leader of the government in the Canadian Senate can get "down to the business of small business" while touting Conservative government policy?
Several of us did get to see Coady that day; we took the ferry across to North Vancouver, bought breakfast in a local restaurant, had a great discussion about business, and came back home in time for the rest of our work day. Income lost for local business, a chance to showcase our town to visitors from the East Coast, and the loss to the rest of the community who would have attended a local function - hmm, I wonder how else the Gibsons Chamber is helping local business.
Kim Fenton
Roberts Creek
