British Columbia News

A day after the province tabled the bill to bring back the PST the Surrey Board of Trade is hoping the old tax will get a new look.
 
  CEO Anita Huberman says “The PST is so complex so administratively burdensome and changes need to be made.”

 Huberman says they have fired off recomended PST changes to the governments expert panel on tax.

 She said “But they have also implimented an expert panel on business taxation to ensure that BC’s business tax environment is more competitive so we are hoping that they will take our recomendations seriously.”

 Huberman says the PST is wrapped in to much red tape and businesses want some clarification “legal services provided by a law firm or a Notary Public office are subject to PST but if a service is provided by a lawyer employed by an accounting firm the service is not taxable.”

 Also among the suggested changes Huberman would like to see bulletproof vests worn by police categorized as safety equipment.
 
 She says they have sent a list of 11 recomended changes as well as suggestions on how to clear up grey areas in the old PST’s permanent exemptions.

  “They are trying to make the PST a much more manageable tax for business I think there is always room for improvement and I think the announcement Minister Falcon made yesterday was a good start and what we are recomending are much more detailed improvements, attention to detail.”
 
 Huberman says businesses tell her if the same old PST comes back it will be drag on the BC economy and hinder job creation.

Finance Minister Kevin Falcon says the government is not ready to change its bargaining mandate despite a strike vote by the BC Government Employees Union.

 Falcon says any raises must be offset by savings elsewhere.

 He said “we think there’s a way that we can get to an agreement that maintains no overall increase that provides modest wage increases based out of productivity improvements that we can negotiate at the table, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

 BCGEU members have voted 82 % in favour of a strike, but no labour action is planned right now, and contract talks resume next week. 

The Liberal government is defending its record on electricity production even though BC Hydro is paying a premium for independent power while spilling water from public dams.

NDP energy critic John Horgan says Hydro is missing a chance to generate excess power for sale because it’s committed to buying from independent power producers at a rate four times higher than the spot market.

“We’re losing money big time and it’s Liberal policy that’s doing it.”

Energy Minister Rich Coleman says there’s a lot of snowmelt filling reservoirs right now, and admits that currently we are paying too much for power.

But Coleman says the I-P-P contracts will pay off in the long run because we’ll need all that power especially in drier years.  

Aboriginal Relations Minister Mary Polak says officials from her ministry will meet leaders of the Cowichan Tribes First Nation later this week to discuss a rash of suicides and suicide attempts.

Polak says she’s deeply concerned after learning of four suicides and 57 attempts since January.

“But we need to remember that along with our deep concern for Cowichan Tribes, there is an overarching problem for first nations that has been there for generations and that is that the rate of suicides in first nations communities is extremely high compared to non first nations communities, that should concern all of us.” 

The Cowichan tribes have declared a state of emergency.

Polak says her ministry will also reach out to Ottawa to coordinate their efforts. 

Testimony has concluded at the coroner’s inquest into the 2008 deaths of three mushroom farm workers in Langley.

A jury will now deliberate and come back with recommendations aimed at preventing a similar tragedy.

Final witnesses included the widows of two of the men killed, ending with 16-year Tracey Phan, whose father was left severely brain damaged.

“…My dad was a hero, and he watched, Spiderman, Batman, Superman…heroes don’t get into such serious injuries where someone they love can lose them” 

First to testify this morning was BC Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair.

One of the largest unions in BC has voted in favour of strike action.

Members of the BC Government Employees’ Union have vote 82 percent for a strike.

But that doesn’t mean job action is a sure thing.

Contract talks with the provincial government are set to resume May 23rd.

Wages are the main outstanding issue.  

You can drink a toast to BC’s drinking water.   

 
A new report by Provincial Health Officer Doctor Perry Kendall finds improvement in drinking water systems around the province between 2007 and 2009.

Kendall says there were no community outbreaks of water-borne illness during that period, and one thousand more water systems obtained valid operating permits.

There were more boil water advisories issued, but Kendall says that’s a result of more assessments of small systems.  

Should hunting be banned in the City of Coquitlam?

That question is up for debate at a public meeting tonight.

The proposed bylaw would see bowhunting and hunting with firearms banned within municipal boundaries.

The issue is a contentious one, with archers and hunters angry over the potential loss of their recreation.

Sara Dubois with the BC SPCA says they’re not opposed to hunting that is “ethical and responsible”…..just not for trophy or sport.

The issue was first tabled last year, when a bear was forced to be put down, after being hit by a bowhunter.

The meeting starts tonight at seven at Coquitlam City Hall.