While talk around town has been centred on Tourism Jasper and the proposed two per cent surcharge at area businesses, massive change is also set to hit Jasper Tourism and Commerce. After years of operating as the town’s destination marketing operator, the organization is poised to act as a lobby group for businesses in town.

“We hope the chamber will take on a peer advocacy group role. Jasper will benefit from having two strong organizations,” said chamber president Todd Noble.

Jasper businesses are debating how to move ahead. While many were expecting a smaller membership fee from the chamber, that might not be the case.

“We’re finding out how drastically under-funded we’ve been operating,” Noble said. “We originally thought membership fees might go down, but that may not be the case.”

With no reduced cost, the chamber has to sell itself again to the business community. Noble said membership fees will not go up.

“We need to educate our members to show how we’ll be a benefit as an advocacy group. I think some people will be surprised,” Noble said.

The chamber is gathering information from its members about the proposed changes, which will look more like a traditional chamber of commerce once the changes are complete. Information from a meeting last month is being tabulated, and while most business owners have questions about Tourism Jasper, more feedback is required on the new role for the chamber of commerce, Noble said.

“We’ll hold another meeting and we’ll be able to relay the feedback at our April meeting,” Noble said.

He hopes the new chamber will be ready in four to six months. That includes finding a new general manager and restructuring the staffing structure. Currently, five staff members work at the chamber of commerce. That number could be reduced, Noble said.

“There are still a lot of people who have to wrap their heads around it,” Noble said.

The new general manager will take charge of the organization, and run it as a business advocacy group. That will include duties such as lobbying three levels of government, working with Parks Canada and pushing the interests of Jasper’s business community. Noble said for the past 13 years he’s been a member of the chamber, they have done very little on the political front.

“It wasn’t getting the effort it deserved. We’ve had to be reactive in the past. In the future, we’ll be more proactive,” Noble said. “In terms of working with Parks, there were opportunities. We weren’t able to put all our efforts forward.”

There are some areas where Noble wants to see the new-look chamber focus upon.

“It will be everything from the housing crisis to business licences and everything in between. We also want to work with the DMO in terms of working towards best interest,” Noble said.

The only certainty for the chamber at this point is uncertainty with the changes.

“The change is significant, but it’s very exciting to see the chamber move toward something the whole community can benefit from,” Noble said. “It’s time for the chamber to be really proactive.”