Ontario Restaurant, Hotel, and Motel Association

188 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 12 Although there were specific concerns related to the pandemic, in general terms the ORHMA rests the majority of its work on several important pillars which include, lobbying all levels of government on the needs of the industry as well as informing its member on any new government changes to regulations, advocacy, education, and cost-cutting strategies, “We were always reducing what we can call some of the chronic expenses and after COVID we are still focusing on the recovery road which relates to what our members have to pay for now,” Elenis details. “Our member’s expenses have increased and they are paying a lot higher food pricing, there is inflation and labor and the whole supply chain has gone up to it is going to go up even further, especially with the war that we have seen in Europe and the rise in the price of oil and affects packaging deals and transportation which affects every product or service that comes through the hospitality doors.” ONTARIO RESTAURANT, HOTEL , AND MOTEL ASSOCIAT ION Over the years the association has fought very hard on behalf of its members on other issues including the cost of hydro as well as employee health tax. “We have fought for the last 10 to 15 years on hydro and global adjustments. The province did end up taking some portion of it and paying from their own funding which has reduced it,” Elenis recalls. “The Employment Health Tax was also something that for many years we were trying to create success with. The tax has been geared toward everyone but small businesses over the years were paying higher wages and the threshold was around $450,000 with anything below not required to pay it. Now the threshold has been increased to a million which represents a success for our industry.” Another huge area of concentration for the ORHMA pertains to the employment shortage that has hit other sectors across North America post-pandemic.