Windsor chamber of commerce wins award for auto strategy work

The Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce is winner of the 2016 Ontario Chamber of Commerce Advocacy Award for its work on auto strategy.

The award is presented annually for extraordinary efforts within the chamber network by recognizing excellence in advocacy and community leadership. The award recognizes extraordinary policy related efforts.

The Windsor-Essex chamber has long called for a national auto strategy and will host a policy and solutions forum centred on automotive strategy in Windsor on May 11.

"The automotive strategy is about much more than our current situation, in which we have over 100,000 people in Ontario that depend directly on the automotive sector employment, but it is not uniquely about their future, it is about Ontario's future and the future of the next generations to come,"WERCC president and CEO Matt Marchand said in a news release. "We are honoured that the OCC has acknowledged the exceptional advocacy efforts of the WERCC. This provincial recognition underscores the value that our chamber staff and volunteers deliver to our members each and every day."

Panelists at the auto policy and solutions forum are scheduled to include:

• Jerry Dias, president of Unifor.
• Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
• Brad Duguid, Ontario Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure.
• Deb Matthews, deputy premier of Ontario.
• Anthony Papa, senior vice-president of global human resources at Federal-Mogul Motorsports.
• Stephen Rodgers, president of GS Global Solutions.
• Ray Tanguay, automotive advisor to the governments of Ontario and Canada.

St. Clair College, the University of Windsor and Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce have been helping organize the event, which will take place at the Caboto Club of Windsor.