The Voice of Small Business is Being Heard 

The Small Business Roundtable advocates to ensure small business needs are heard by the government. The Roundtable is pleased that the government has taken the following measures to improve the small business climate in B.C.

Ensuring tax competitiveness

British Columbia’s corporate tax rate is among the lowest in North America. The following initiatives, introduced in the past year, enhance B.C.’s competitiveness by attracting highly skilled people, creating business opportunities, and enabling economic growth. Small businesses now account for one third of B.C.’s economic output, the highest of any province.

  • As of December 1, 2008, the small business income tax rate was reduced to 2.5 per cent, resulting in a 44 per cent tax decrease for small business since 2001. The total savings to small business will be $401 million in three years.
  • Effective January 1, 2010, the small business threshold will go from $400,000 to $500,000. About 3,500 B.C. businesses will benefit from this threshold increase.
  • The Province doubled the commission it pays to business for collecting the provincial sales tax and hotel room tax. That has added up to $1,200 to a business’s bottom line.
  • Effective July 1, 2010, the Province will implement a harmonized sales tax which will eliminate the PST, significantly reducing administrative complexity and tax compliance costs for small business.

Reducing regulatory complexity

Over 151,000 regulations have been eliminated since 2001 to support small business growth, equating to a red tape reduction of 42 per cent.

Specific changes that help small business include:

  • Revising the Partnership Act so all businesses are now eligible to register for limited liability partnerships.
  • Streamlining liquor licensing and related administration to improve public safety and reduce red tape for businesses.
  • Amending the Employment Standards Act to be more flexible and responsive to workers’ and employers’ needs.
  • Streamlining the Forest Practices Code to reduce the regulatory burden on businesses while continuing to maintain high environmental standards.
  • Amending the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act to increase flexibility for travel agents to apply for a licence as a home-based business.
  • Amending the Motor Vehicle Act to allow for a greater range of vehicles (bobcats, forklifts) to be used without a police-issued permit.
  • Streamlining efforts, currently underway, to improve the social service tax and hotel room tax application and approval process, leading to increased customer service and decreased waiting times.

Breaking down barriers to doing business

The complexity of regulatory requirements imposed by multiple levels of government continues to be a challenge for small business. The provincial government has made great efforts to develop the following programs to streamline permit and licensing requirements for the startup and growth of small businesses.

  • BizPaL - An online tool enabling businesses to simply and quickly identify federal, provincial and local government permits and licences required to start a particular business in a specific community. The Province successfully 20 Small Business Roundtable Annual Report met the 2008 goal of another 50 communities signed on with BizPaL. Information on BizPaL is available at www.bizpal.ca.
  • Mobile Business Licence - The Mobile Business Licence is an inter-municipal licence that reduces red tape by allowing mobile businesses , such as contractors and caterers, to operate across participating municipalities. The Mobile Business Licence saves businesses time and money, municipalities see improved compliance and reduced business licence processing, and residents have a greater choice in service providers. Government’s continued efforts to expand the licence throughout the province will add more opportunities for small businesses in participating municipalities.

Private-sector pension plan

Government is spearheading efforts to create a new private-sector pension opportunity for British Columbians who are without a retirement savings plan.

Labour market planning

The aging demographic in British Columbia – and all over the world – is leading to potential labour shortages in our province. B.C. has been a leader in making progress towards increasing the ability of skilled and trained people to work anywhere in Canada without having to re-certify their credentials.

  • The Trade, Investment, and Labour Mobility Agreement, signed by Alberta and B.C. in 2006, has the potential to create thousands of new jobs in British Columbia. In addition, Canada’s Agreement on Internal Trade, approved in December, 2008, allows all Canadians with a specific professional or occupational certification in one province or territory to be recognized as qualified to practice their profession in all provinces and territories where their profession or occupation is regulated. These new cross-Canada labour mobility provisions took effect April 1, 2009.
  • Recruiting skilled workers from other countries through the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program allows B.C. to encourage select workers and entrepreneurs to immigrate here, based on their ability to contribute to the local economy.
  • The BC Skills Connect for Immigrants Program consists of career assessment and planning, workplace language upgrading and orientation, skill enhancements and mentorship. Since Skills Connect services began in July 2006, over 4,000 skilled immigrants have benefited from the program. The program has had an 80 per cent success rate in helping skilled immigrants find jobs in B.C. that match their skills.