History
The Vancouver Board of Trade was established on 22 September 1887, to help rebuild after the Great Vancouver Fire destroyed the city. 31 men - composed of merchants, lumbermen, bankers and manufacturers - founded the Board of Trade to "protect the interests of merchants, traders and manufacturers, to advance the trade of the area and to promote the advancement and general prosperity of Vancouver." In addition to lower taxes, early lobbying efforts pushed for the construction of schools, a land registry office, a court house, a submarine communications cable to Australia (completed in 1902) and the establishment of mail delivery.
By 1952, the Board had grown to ten bureaus and ten standing committees which worked on campaigns, exhibitions, luncheons, educational products, endorsements and representations to all levels of government on behalf of the business community.
In 1983, the Board became a member of the World Trade Centers Association and in 1986 moved into the Vancouver World Trade Centre office complex at Canada Place. It hosted the General Assembly of the World Trade Centers Association the same year.
In 1990 the Board launched its Federal Debt Clock, a 1,500 lb (680 kg), 15 ft (4.6 m) by 10 ft (3.0 m) computerized calculator that tracked the rise in government debt. At the time, Canada’s $363 billion debt was climbing at a rate of $53,300 per minute. In 1998, Finance Minister Paul Martin hit the gong and stopped the clock at a special Board of Trade luncheon. The board’s debt clock stopped just shy of $600 billion.
In more recent years, The Vancouver Board of Trade was one of the leading voices to support Vancouver’s bid for the 2010 Olympic Games – hosting workshops and forums to promote the bid, and even flying in a pre-bid countdown clock to Canada Place by helicopter. The Board also successfully lobbied for a revote of the Translink mayors’ council to save the Richmond-Airport-Vancouver rapid transit line – known today as the SkyTrain’s Canada Line, and was a founding member of the Fair Tax Coalition, which helped the city to approve a one-per-cent reduction in business property taxes.
Read more about this topic: Vancouver Board Of Trade
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—J.L. (John Langshaw)