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Hi all, 

Last week was spent touring forestry operations, mills and Forest Service Office in the Kootenays. It was a very buy week starting out with delayed flights out of Prince George due to fog and a decision that if I was going to get to Kamloops I had better drive. From there it was on to Revelstoke, Golden, Invermere, Canal Flats, Cranbrook, Creston, Salmo, Thrums, Castlegar, Fruitvale, Rossland, Grand Forks and then back to Kamloops. This is a very interesting part of the forest industry that represents high value manufacturing with only 3 of the mills I visited (out of 10) being dimensional lumber. Great trip and learned lots. 

Next week I have some hosting responsibilities at the Olympics with “Forestry Day” on Tuesday we will be vying for the International Media’s attention. We have a very good day planned with 2 major events that we hope to make a “splash” out of! Also I am hosting some of our largest customers from China, Japan and Korea and hope to continue to build that business. 

When our Government came to office in 2001 we committed to reducing red tape and make it easier to do business in BC. This week’s Top 10 focuses on some of those initiatives. 

The Olympics have been exciting and at the time of this writing Canada is in 4th place with 8 medals (3 gold). GO CANADA GO!        

Have a great week! 

Pat 

http://www.patbellmla.bc.ca/  

1.        The B.C. government has eliminated more than 152,000 regulations – a red tape reduction of over 42 per cent.

2.      To further government’s commitment to the original target of reducing red tape by one third, the Province launched Straightforward BC to monitor government regulations and report quarterly on progress made to reduce them. Government also introduced citizen-centred regulatory reform, which focuses on reducing the number of steps and time involved in accessing government services and complying with regulations.

3.       The Province also announced a project to look at simplifying provincial forms. The project’s first phase will redesign two forms that require about 125,000 submissions per year, adding the option to submit information online. This will reduce processing time and cut costs for taxpayers and government.  

4.       Government adopted BizPaL, an online tool that streamlines and simplifies the business permit and licensing process across three levels of government. BizPaL cuts the time spent researching forms from a full day to about 20 minutes. Today BizPaL is offered in 81 municipalities around B.C.

5.       The Province supported the development of an Inter-Community Mobile Business Licence in the Okanagan-Similkameen, allowing mobile businesses to operate in multiple municipalities with the licence.

6.       The single business number and OneStop Business Registry make it easier, faster and cheaper for businesses to deal with several levels of government at one time.

7.       The bilateral Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement between B.C. and Alberta was fully implemented on April 1, 2009, removing trade barriers that restrict the free movement of people, goods and services – boosting B.C.’s competitiveness and reducing costs for business.

8.       Under TILMA, B.C. and Alberta have also streamlined business registration and reporting requirements so that businesses registering in one province will automatically be recognized by the other. The Province incorporated the Small Business Lens into its regulatory reform checklist so that all proposed legislation carefully considers potential impacts on small business.

9.       The Venture Capital Program eliminated eight out of 17 forms and many complex processes. The time saved for government equals five full-time employees and about $200,000 in savings each year in legal fees. The Province brought in the Health Professions Regulatory Reform Act to enable qualified physicians working in other provinces and countries to practise here with a restricted licence in their specific areas of qualification.

10.    The Child Care Subsidy application time was cut from 19 days to four. The provincial Environmental Protection Office reduced pesticide certification from 42 to 14 days. The Ministry of Forests and Range reduced the time required for road permit approvals from 20 to 14 days. The Residential Tenancy Branch reduced the processing time of the Application for Dispute Resolution from two weeks to one or two days.