Welcome BWA delegates!
This is your central Briefing Hub where you can find all the info you need to prepare for our third annual visit to Queen’s Park, Toronto, on May 27th, 2025.
Here, you can find information relating to location and travel, training materials to get ready, our priorities and speaking notes, your group member, and eventually a schedule of the day’s meetings.
In past years, we’ve sent these out via emails, but we know how easy it is for things to get lost in inboxes. That’s why we set up a central Hub so you can bookmark it, download docs to your preferred locations, and come back to this page when you need it.
Our hope is that we can equip you to feel prepared and confident at your meetings at Queen’s Park, so that you can focus on enjoying the day!
Overview & Our Priorities
This year, we’re showing decision-makers that SME business owners are job creators, innovators, and key to building a resilient, fair economy. This May, policymakers are thinking about how to strengthen our domestic economy in response to tariffs and rising costs. It’s created a great amount of economic uncertainty, and it’s become clear that we cannot fall back on the way Ontario and Canada “used to do things”.
Our advocacy is focused on showing policymakers that investing in the SME economy is a powerful way to foster Ontario’s economic growth into the long-term. Instead of piece-meal response programs, we’re proposing policies that foster fairness, efficiency, investment and productivity in the private sector.
Our meetings are also an opportunity to voice your own concerns and talk about the policies or programs that would be helpful for you! We’ve done our best to place you in a meeting stream that dovetails well with your interests, so that your concerns and asks fit in with the overarching conversation theme.
Downloadable materials:
- Official Better Business Day 2025 Program (to be posted)
- Speaking notes Queens Park 2025
YOU MUST BRING A PIECE OF OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT I.D. WITH YOU TO QUEEN’S PARK. SECURITY WILL NOT LET YOU IN WITHOUT IT.
Event location, schedule and map
We’ll be uploading the schedule of meetings once we have confirmed them. Keep in mind they are subject to change. We’ve had schedule changes up to an hour before a meeting!
We begin with a delegate lunch, on the house!
Delegate Lunch location: Gallery Grill at Hart House (University of Toronto)
Delegate Lunch Meeting Time: 11:30am
Google maps link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/YW53Fy9hPDTmmW8KA
Lunch reservation is under the name “Better Way Alliance.”
***For those who cannot attend the lunch, we will meet at the entrance to Queen’s Park, by the security desk, at 1:20pm. There’s only one entrance, to the left of the main ornamental doors. We assume that you can attend the lunch and no confirmation is necessary. If you cannot attend, please let Lili know.
From the Gallery Grill, we walk as a group to Queen’s Park. Our meetings are expected to begin at 1:30pm.
Location: Legislative Assembly of Ontario (“Queen’s Park”)
111 Wellesley St W, Toronto, ON M7A 1A2, Canada
Google maps link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/iM1Zc3Hk2H4NrNHy9
Between meetings, you can have a rest at the canteen on the bottom floor, where there are washroom facilities and a coat check.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO PACK YOUR GOVERNMENT-ISSUED I.D. SO THAT SECURITY LETS YOU IN.
Meeting Groups
Our group leaders are Aaron Binder (BWA staff), Liliana Locke (BWA staff), and Anita Agrawal (Jewels 4 Ever, BWA member).
Team Workforce
- Team lead: Liliana Locke, BWA (Don Valley East)
- Jon Rennie, odd duck wine & provisions (Kitchener Centre)
- Paola Girotti, Sugarmoon Salon, Sugarmoon Yoga, Bode Salon (Toronto-Danforth)
- Christie Johnson, Little Mushroom Catering (Cambridge)
- Stephanie Soulis, Little Mushroom Catering (Cambridge)
Team Tariffs / Cost of Business
- Team lead: Anita Agrawal, Jewels 4 Ever (Toronto Centre)
- Ashley Jacot De Boinod, Glory Hole Doughnuts (Toronto-Danforth)
- Krista Mansour, Footprints on Muskoka (Parry Sound-Muskoka)
- Vijai Kumar Singh, Brampton Board of Trade (Brampton South, Centre, West)
- Matthew Mendelsohn, Social Capital Partners (succession, policy cohesion as priorities)
Team Commercial Rent
- Team lead: Aaron Binder, BWA, GO Tours, Segway of Ontario (Spadina-Fort York)
- Anyika Mark, Little Jamaica Community Land Trust (Toronto-St. Paul’s)
- Serge Mansour, Footprints on Muskoka (Parry Sound-Muskoka)
- Graeme Kobayashi, Counterpoint Brewing (Kitchener Centre)
- Liz Mok, Moo Shu Ice Cream (Ottawa Centre)
Meeting with MPPs: What to expect and how to prepare
Speaking directly to elected officials can sometimes feel intimidating, but remember, you’re the expert in your business and your community. We’ve put together a training to walk you through how Queen’s Park meetings typically work, how to share your story effectively, and how to tie your experience to our priorities.
Downloadable materials:
Most of you will be in the same small group for the entire day. If you have indicated that you would like to speak in several themes and we’ve been able to accommodate you, we will work some WhatsApp magic so that you can communicate with other members of the group you’ll join up with at some point in the day. The meeting schedule also has room numbers so that you know where you need to be, when.
Networking after your meetings
Following our meetings, the BWA will host a networking reception in one of the large rooms at Queen’s Park. You are welcome to bring products or samples to display at the reception, and if your business makes food or non-alcoholic drinks, we’d love for you to bring some!
Networking can be a source of excitement or stress, or just feel unnatural. We created a training to help you prepare for meeting-and-greeting MPPs and government staffers. The reception is a great opportunity to follow up with an MPP with whom you had a good meeting, give more details into your story, or get a feel for who is doing what in the Ontario government.
Downloadable materials:
Optional: Engaging with the media before or after Better Business Day
If you’re open to doing media interviews about the event or the policy changes that would be beneficial for SME growth, stability, and Good Job creation, before or after the event, we would love to get you involved! We send out press releases on a regular basis, letting national and local media outlets know that business owners are available to speak about various timely topics.
We created a training to help you speak clearly to the press, craft your messages, and represent your business in the media.
Media is an exciting growth opportunity that can be a wonderful way to highlight your business and yourself and a leader in your industry.
Downloadable materials:
NOW GO PACK YOUR SHOES AND WATER BOTTLE AND DON’T FORGET YOUR I.D.!
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