October 21, 2004
Small Business in B.C.
MLA Statement
R. Lee: I rise today in the House to once again highlight the prosperity and growth of British Columbia.
This week is the twenty-fifth anniversary of Small Business Week in Canada, celebrating and recognizing the vital role that small business plays in British Columbia and Canada as a whole. It's a vital role indeed, with small business accounting for 98 percent of all businesses in British Columbia, employing 970,000 people and representing 58 percent of all private sector jobs.
This government committed to and fulfilled the new-era commitment to create a more favourable environment for business by cutting red tape and the regulatory burden by one-third within three years. I'm happy to see that we have achieved this goal, with more than 173,000 regulatory requirements cut for a net reduction in regulations of 37 percent.
The figures prove that we have restored the competitive economic climate in this province. We are going in the right direction — 12,900 new jobs in September, the highest level of business optimism in Canada since September 2003 and the highest small business growth rate in Canada over the past two years.
Mr. Speaker, I see the results in my own riding of Burnaby North. For shops from the traditional area at the Hastings to the Brentwood Town Centre, for companies from the Still Creek area to Canada Way, for real estate development everywhere…. Businesses are thriving.
The future for small business in B.C. is even brighter with the announcement yesterday by the Minister of Finance that effective today, the provincial sales tax is cut from 7½ percent to 7 percent.
In celebrating Small Business Week, let's also recognize the Burnaby Board of Trade and the Heights Merchants Association for their significant contributions in promoting small businesses in Burnaby.
