Eastern PEI businesses take centre stage

Eastern PEI businesses were lauded during the 16th annual Eastern PEI Chamber of Commerce Business & Community Excellence Awards held on May 10 at St Joachim’s Hall in Vernon River. The dinner and awards ceremony was sold out with more than 100 attending.
 
While four businesses were singled out as award winners, chamber president Blair Aitken said the entire business community is a huge part of the foundation of the economy.
 
“We are here to celebrate innovation and entrepreneurship,” he said, noting small businesses employ 70 per cent of the private sector workforce on PEI.
 
More than 40 businesses were nominated in the four categories.
 
The Innovation and Advancement award went to One Tuna Inc. The Fiddling Fisherman Lookout received the New Business of the Year while MacDonald’s Bakery & Coffee Shop in Brudenell won Business Excellence. The Eastern Graphic picked up the Community Impact award.
 
Innovation and Advancement
Jason Tompkins of North Lake opened One Tuna, the first certified CFIA tuna plant in the country, in 2019.
 
He has been in the business for over a decade and in 2013 began buying and selling tuna through TNT, a company he started in North Lake. 
 
When accepting the award Mr Tompkins acknowledged the chamber as well as CBDC and local financial institutions as being indispensable in helping his business grow.
 
One Tuna is the largest Blue Fin Tuna buyer in Canada.
 
Other nominees in the Innovation and Advancement category include Au Naturel Inc and The Fiddling Fisherman Inc.
 
New Business of the Year
Julie and JJ Chaisson own the fishing tour excursion business The Fiddling Fisherman in Souris and recently extended their business by opening The Fiddling Fisherman Lookout. 
 
“We love what we do and we love where we live,” Mr Chaisson said as he accepted the New Business award.
 
The music and events venue, which also houses accommodations is situated at the picturesque intersection of Colville Bay and Souris River.
 
Mr Chaisson also gave a nod to the other nominees.
 
“Anybody that is living in these rural communities that opens a business to try to attract people to the area - it sounds cliché - but I think they are all winners,” he said.
 
Other New Business nominees were East Coast Upholstery and Eastern Drilling Services.
 
Business Excellence
When MacDonald’s Bakery & Coffee Shop was named winner of the Business Excellence Award there was a lot of cheering, especially from the staff of the Brudenell business that has been in operation since 1995. Present owners Mark and Scott MacDonald purchased the business from their parents in 2008.
 
Their commitment to hiring local and giving back to the community, not to mention the mouthwatering array of items that fill their baked-goods shelves makes them a stand-out small business in the region. 
 
Other Business Excellence nominees include Atlantic Mustard Mill and Dingwell Funeral Home.
 
Community Impact
In accepting the Community Impact award, Eastern Graphic Publisher Paul MacNeill spoke to the many different ways the community newspaper has been influenced by and has influenced the eastern PEI region since the first edition rolled off the press in December 1963.
 
The decade-long partnership with the Rotary Club of Montague & Eastern PEI  in sponsoring the weekly Gold Mine draw is a perfect example of an entire community coming together for the greater good.
 
“That toonie draw has spun so much money around in our community to help people in so many different ways,” Mr MacNeill said. “It could be an individual who needs a gas card to go to hospital in Halifax, a water park in a community or band instruments for students. It is literally filling the cracks in a lot of organizations.”
 
Other nominees for the Community Impact award were Friends of Elmira and Kickham Properties.
 
The Graphic
Charlotte MacAulay
https://www.peicanada.com/eastern_graphic/eastern-pei-businesses-take-centre-stage/article_f4fcdad6-f419-11ed-8a65-d3f8afffe986.html