The Okotoks & District Chamber of Commerce kicked off the fall with their monthly luncheon meeting series Wednesday.

The meeting was highlighted by the upcoming events for the Chamber which includes a busy month of October.

President Andrew Gustafson was also very busy prior to the meeting as he was at the National Chamber of Commerce meeting in Regina last week and says he came away with plenty of excitement for the future of business in the province.

"The Chambers of Commerce in this country are very optimistic about where the Alberta economy is going to go and they are fully on board to push policy and to lobby in our favour to the federal government any issues that can help with the economy," he says.

Gustafson says getting energy to tide water was one of the main talking points at the meeting which saw a unanimous decision to support it.

Locally for the Chamber there's a few events coming that business owners would enjoy being a part of.

"General Rick Hillier is in town, this is a great speaker who has done amazing things in Canada and we're are so lucky to have him here on October 6th for a lunchtime event," Gustafson says.  "Also our annual event the Chamber Business Excellence Awards you can nominate a business now if you've had great service or if you see a business in the community that's doing great things and you can come out and watch them accept awards and be recognized for some of the great things they're doing."

The Chamber will also be holding other business related events throughout the month with a business planning symposium and a panel breakfast at the end of the month.

"That's on October 13th and 24th geared towards business owners these are educational opportunities talking about sales and marketing, talking about HR, business continuity and a number of other topics, so please check the chamber website for details."

If you'd like to register for any of the upcoming events, visit the link here.

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