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![\"MIKE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4565487_web1_Bob-Somers.jpg\")
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MIKE SUDOMA <\/p>\n
Bob Somers is a principal landscape architect at Scatliff + Miller + Murray.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s attended chamber events over the past 20 years. Many videos shown at luncheons come without local music or a credit to the filmmaker, Somers said.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s paying attention: he spent the late 1990s and early 2000s touring with rock bands as a bass player.<\/p>\n
Somers is looking to boost wages in Winnipeg\u2019s creative sector. His goal, he said, is also to connect local businesses with the arts industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI anticipate it\u2019s not going to be a one-year thing,\u201d said Somers, whose term lasts one year. \u201cIt is, \u2018How do we make it easier for the business community to \u2026 engage in the creative sector?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Promoting theatre tickets like season sports passes is one avenue. Recognizing artists as businesses and pulling them into the 2,000-member chamber could be another, Somers said. \u201cMaybe this is the bassist in me \u2014 I want to just bring more instrumentation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Somers is also prioritizing \u201chigh-quality public space\u201d downtown and throughout the city, in his day job and for upcoming Winnipeg chamber meetings.<\/p>\n
Businesses named downtown and community safety as their top concern in the most recent chamber survey, said the organization\u2019s president, Loren Remillard.<\/p>\n
He called Somers \u201cthe perfect person in the perfect role at the perfect time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Somers has worked on some of Winnipeg\u2019s most prominent landscapes, including Waterfront Drive in the Exchange District and Plaza at The Forks.<\/p>\n
Bylaws and policies must be considered during projects, Somers said. <\/p>\n
He got his first lesson in the back of a police car \u2014 caught skateboarding, illegally, on a St. Vital street as a youth. He\u2019s since helped create dozens of skate parks, not all in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n
\u201cSkate parks are an evolution of the fact that we have a municipal bylaw that says you can\u2019t do it anywhere else,\u201d Somers said. \u201cWhere can public investment and public bylaws and policy shape what we want?\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s an \u201cinfrastructure deficit\u201d downtown, or a lack of parks and open space, Somers added. He emphasized the importance of downtown schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cBob\u2019s practice is in creating space for people, for connection that\u2019s inviting,\u201d Remillard said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we need for Winnipeg overall, but in particular, downtown.\u201d<\/p>\n
Somers has been president of the Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects and a director of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects. He founded the Skateboard Coalition of Manitoba.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s wound down other board commitments to make way for his role as the Winnipeg chamber\u2019s 133rd chair, he said.<\/p>\n
Somers replaces Amanda Buhse, founder of candle company Coal and Canary. Buhse called her term \u201cone of the greatest honours of my professional career.\u201d<\/p>\n
During her tenure, she paused her company\u2019s candle sales to the United States. The southern country removed the de minimis exemption in July 2025, which had allowed items under US$800 to cross the border without duties.<\/p>\n
U.S. shipments had accounted for roughly one-fifth of Coal & Canary sales, Buhse said. She\u2019s since doubled down on the Canadian market.<\/p>\n
Her experience helped direct the chamber\u2019s advocacy, Remillard said. \u201cI believe (it) shaped it to the success and benefit of the Winnipeg business community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Somers said he\u2019s viewing his time as chair in the current trade landscape \u201cnervously.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019re all trying to figure out what\u2019s happening at any one time,\u201d Somers, 52, said. \u201cI feel like I have a very good voice to be used \u2026 but I feel like my target might be a little bit more local.\u201d<\/p>\n
It seems the city and province are working together \u201creally well,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Somers brings an intersection of business, creativity and civic thinking, Buhse said.<\/p>\n
Sandy Chahal, chief operating officer of Lawton Partners Wealth Management, is set to become board chair for the 2027-28 term.<\/p>\n
gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com<\/p>\n
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Gabrielle Pich\u00e9 Gabrielle Pich\u00e9 reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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