Writing on OpenFile Ottawa, Kevin Bourne noted that some business representatives have been pushing for a merger at least as far back as 2002.
Judging by the sentiments of the board members and executives I've spoken to, it is unlikely that the city's chambers will merge anytime soon. The Ottawa Chamber of Commerce sees itself as a representative of the entire city's business community and wants to grow by signing up new members. Both its current chairperson, Dave Donaldson, and his predecessor, Tim Redpath, told me they feel amalgamation of the city's chambers is unfeasible.
As far as the other chambers, some of the board members I've spoken to over the years say they believe the voices of businesses in the outlying areas of Ottawa are frequently neglected as is, and would be completely lost without their individual chambers. Furthermore, some argue that they fill a niche through highly local networking events and responding to other needs that are unique to Kanata, Orleans or Nepean.
As Kevin points out, the underlying issue is the multitude of business voices in Ottawa. There are the various chambers, business improvement areas, the city's business advisory committee as well as agencies such as Ottawa Tourism, the Regroupement des gens d'affaires de la Capitale Nationale and OCRI/Invest Ottawa.
That's being addressed to an extent as the city consolidates many of its economic development activities in a single physical location on Aberdeen Street in Little Italy, as well as establishes a single point of contact for "main street" businesses through a council of BIAs. But I'd wager that we're unlikely to see a single chamber of commerce in the near future.
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