Williams Lake BC's trusted daily news source.

Communities throughout British Columbia can take advantage of a new suite of online tools and resources to help them strengthen and diversify their local economies.

If you support economic activity for your community - a local government or First Nation - the Business Attraction Toolkit can help attract potential new businesses and investors from across Canada and around the world.

"We are committed to helping British Columbia communities reach their full potential," said Pat Bell, Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and Minister Responsible for Labour. "That's why we're providing additional resources both online and in person so communities can capitalize on their assets and create jobs to support B.C. families."

Problem properties where unlawful, dangerous and threatening activities continually detract from neighbourhood safety and security will be targeted and may be shut down, under proposed legislation introduced recently.

"Local governments have a limited range of tools to effectively deal with problem properties, so we asked the Province to look at the existing legislation,” said Mary Sjostrom, Mayor of Quesnel and president of the Union of BC Municipalities. “The Community Safety Act would provide local governments with an additional tool to respond directly to residents' concerns - one that would be backed with additional powers to promote responsible property ownership and safe communities."

Amendments introduced today to the Medicare Protection Act will create authority to set regulations that would allow British Columbians who take longer-term vacations out of the province, such as 'snow birds', to stay on holidays for an extra period of time.

"The Canadian Snowbird Association requested that we extend the six-month residency requirement for Medical Services Plan coverage. Our government listened to them, and we are making the change to permit more flexibility," said Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid.

To help consumers, businesses, charities and financial institutions transition to phasing out the copper penny, the Royal Canadian Mint  officially ceased distribute pennies as of yesterday.

Businesses are now encouraged to begin rounding cash transactions.

In Economic Action Plan 2012, the Government announced it would phase out the penny from Canada’s coinage system. The decision to phase out the penny was due to its excessive and rising cost of production relative to face value, the increased accumulation of pennies by Canadians in their households, environmental considerations, and the significant handling costs the penny imposes on retailers, financial institutions and the economy in general.

The estimated savings for taxpayers from phasing out the penny is $11 million a year.

February is Spay/Neuter Awareness Month and the BC SPCA is calling on all British Columbians to take action to help end the tragedy of pet overpopulation in their community.

“The terrible reality is that there are still many more animals born in our province every year than there are homes for,” says Lorie Chortyk, general manager of community relations for the BC SPCA. “The SPCA and other rescue groups find homes for thousands of these abandoned or surrendered animals every year, but we know that there are so many more who suffer and die after being abandoned by their guardians. It is heartbreaking because this is a completely preventable problem.”

The provincial government has set in motion a $5-million fund to provide financial protection for forestry contractors, as well as announcing tax relief on previous compensation payments.

The government's promise to logging contractors was to guarantee they receive payment for work performed, and to ensure fair tax treatment on earlier compensation, according to the Premier.

The compensation fund will strengthen payment protection for those who contract their services to forest sector companies. Logging contractors who provide services to licensees, but are not paid because of licensee insolvency, can now access this compensation fund to better protect their financial interests.

Starting February 15, 2013, and over the next five years, eligible British Columbians between the ages of 19 and 74 will be required to replace their CareCard with the new BC Services Card by renewing their enrolment in the Medical Services Plan.

The current CareCard was introduced in 1989 and has not been significantly updated over the last 20 years. The new BC Services Card takes advantage of significant advances in technology since that time, to provide a more convenient and secure piece of identification with enhanced features to protect citizens' personal information. The new card is more secure as it includes a photograph of the beneficiary, anti- forgery features, identity proofing and an expiry date. The card can also be combined with a driver's licence and acts as photo ID -- meaning one less card to carry.

 

During the summer of 2011, British Columbians participated in a province-wide referendum on the harmonized sales tax (HST). On August 26, 2011, Elections BC announced that British Columbians had voted in favour of eliminating the HST and returning to the provincial sales tax (PST) plus federal goods and services tax (GST) system.

Following the referendum results, government took steps to make the transition back to the PST/GST system 'as quickly as responsibly possible'. The Provincial Sales Tax Act received royal assent on May 31, 2012 and the PST will be re-implemented on April 1, 2013.

Businesses that sell or lease taxable goods, or sell software or taxable services in BC, will be able to register to collect the tax starting today. 

Members of the Ambulance Paramedics of British Columbia (APBC), CUPE Local 873, have ratified the collective agreement reached with the Health Employer's Association of BC last month. APBC's agreement is part of, but separate from, the agreement that was also ratified by members of the Facilities Bargaining Association.

91% of members voted in favour of the new two year agreement which will expire March 31, 2014. Contract language concerning paramedics and dispatchers will continue to be appended to the main FBA agreement and also includes a general wage increase of 3% over the life of the agreement.

(Photo:  BC Ambulance Service station in Williams Lake, BC.)

This afternoon, the BC RCMP announced that there is now an application to connect iPhone and iPad users to information directly from the BC RCMP.

The application provides easy mobile access to information from our bc.rcmp.ca website, like news releases, missing persons, and wanted persons, as well as our @BCRCMP and @GRCenCB Twitter accounts, and BC RCMPNews and GRCenCB Facebook pages.