Keeping a keen eye on the business community, the Economic Planning and Development Committee of Lake Country meets once a month to discuss all things business in the region.
The committee consists of a broad range of members of the Lake Country community, from the Chamber of Commerce to current and retired business people, all of whom have expertise in the business world in Lake Country, putting forth opinions on what is happening and reporting back to the District of Lake Country.
Chamber of Commerce president Garth McKay says one of the biggest issues in Lake Country is finding places to locate businesses.
“The thing that we need is more infrastructure,” said McKay. “We can’t open up more businesses because there isn’t room. Another thing that will further our growth is having a bigger population. Being a bedroom community to Kelowna and Vernon, we’re in a prime location. The result of the population growth will be that developers and the people who provide the infrastructure will hopefully want to go ahead and develop in Lake Country.”
As president of the chamber, McKay recently visited 24 local businesses as part of the business walks campaign, visiting local shops with Lake Country Mayor James Baker and Kelowna-Lake Country MLA Norm Letnick to get a feel for how people view the area when it comes to business.
“I guess the overwhelming feel is people like doing business in Lake Country,” said McKay. “They like their customers and they feel it’s a little less expensive to operate in Lake Country.
“Everybody seemed to have a positive feel about their business,” he concluded from the walk.