The Portage la Prairie Chamber of Commerce had a prosperous 2017.

Chamber President Preston Meier says a variety of things happened throughout the year.

"We did install a new board back in February, with a number of new members who are dedicated to the organization. We certainly had a number of great board members over 131 years. But our first primary goal was to continue the work of the previous boards. I think we've accomplished that, and I think we've instilled a few different plans and programs to better identify our businesses," says Meier. He adds, "Sometimes we think of the business community as just the business community, but it extends far beyond that. Our organization also represents a number of non-profit organizations, a number of home-based businesses and a number of agri-businesses. So we've decided to split up our membership this year and concentrate on their own individual challenges," Meier says.

Meier says there's a common thread amongst all the above groups. He says they've had a number of engagement sessions with a great cross section of their membership to find out what their needs are and how they can best represent them. He says they've continued a great relationship with the city.

Meier says this is the first year they've not taken on any municipal funding.

"We are a stand-alone organization. In years gone past, we used to ask the city to fund us. This year we decided to stand completely on our own and our dollars are raised only through our membership and the events that we run," Meier explains.

Meier says the most significant aspect of 2017 is their advocacy role.

"We're there as the voice of business, and there's strength in numbers. We passed a resolution in support of the MDC working group, which is in support of the City of Portage la Prairie as well. We do a lot of work with the flood issue still. We've seen some movement on that. We've combined with the Manitoba Chamber and the Canadian Chambers in regards to the Liberal tax issue that affects a lot of our business owners and session planning and income sprinkling. Even though we're a small piece of the puzzle, we're still a piece of the puzzle. It's through the voice of everybody together that some changes have come into play. Our biggest thing for the year is our advocacy role. Going forward we're going to continue to work on these going forward as well," Meier says.