Ottawa Board of Trade and Mayor Jim Watson, Together with Business Leaders, Announce New Program for Businesses to Show Commitment to Employees and Customers in Fight Against COVID-19
“I Promise!”
August 11, 2021: Ottawa – As a direct result of member feedback, together with the City of Ottawa, the Ottawa Board of Trade (OBoT) is launching a new program that business owners can use to visibly demonstrate their support for the safety of employees and customers.
It’s called POST Promise.
The POST Promise encourages businesses to post on their door fronts and websites their commitment to safe environments. OBoT will be supplying the posters and decals for free once people promise, on a very brief website questionnaire, to do their best to protect others.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson says, "The POST Promise campaign is a visible way for all to know that an owner has taken every precaution necessary to protect its employees and clients. This is an important tool to rebuild consumer confidence in our local economy today, and I thank the Ottawa Board of Trade for its leadership that will set us up for a stronger economic rebound tomorrow."
OBoT starts today with “I promise” social video campaigns from Ottawa Tourism, St. John's Ambulance and the Unrefined Olive. We encourage every business to post videos we can share with the hashtag #PostPromise #ShopLocal or #OBoT
The POST Promise brings together all businesses, across industries, to implement a common approach to keep Canadians safe during the pandemic. When people see the POST Promise logo, they can have confidence that a business is doing what it can to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
OBoT President and CEO, Sueling Ching, says, “This is not about any kind of certification or approval from a regulatory body. This is about a promise. What we’ve seen during this pandemic is that business owners are showing employees that they are working hard to protect them, but also they are fighting to save their businesses. We know small to medium sized enterprises are the economic backbone of our economy. When they fall down, we all do. So, consumer confidence is incredibly important.”
POST promise is a national, not-for-profit organization that provides ongoing governance and operational and financial management of the POST Promise initiative. The organization’s Board of Directors is comprised of senior level business leaders and public health experts from across Canada who are dedicated to creating a collective solution to help keep Canadians safe while also supporting our local economies.