BIZPAL LAUNCHED IN PENTICTON, BRITISH COLUMBIA

August 20, 2008

PENTICTON, British Columbia — Starting and running a business in the City of Penticton just became easier thanks to BizPaL, a new online business permit and licence service that saves time spent on paperwork and helps entrepreneurs start up faster.

Today, the Honourable Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety and Member of Parliament for Okanagan—Coquihalla, on behalf of the Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry, together with the Honourable Bill Barisoff, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia and Member of the Legislative Assembly for Penticton—Okanagan Valley, and Jake Kimberley, Mayor of Penticton, welcomed the launch of BizPaL in Penticton.

BizPaL is an innovative project that provides entrepreneurs with simplified access to the information on permits and licences they need to establish and run their businesses. This unique partnership among federal, provincial, territorial, regional and local governments is designed to cut through the paperwork burden and red tape that small business owners encounter. The BizPaL service in Penticton was developed with the support of Industry Canada, in collaboration with the City of Penticton and the Province of British Columbia.

“BizPaL is part of our government’s economic plan, laid out in Advantage Canada, to provide an innovative and entrepreneurial business environment,” said Minister Day. “The Government of Canada is pleased to be working with the Province of British Columbia and the City of Penticton to promote a more competitive and productive local economy by providing easy access to essential information and reducing paperwork costs for businesses.”

“BizPaL is another important tool to help support our valuable small business community,” said Mr. Barisoff. “As government at all levels continues to reduce red tape, small business owners in turn spend less time dealing with paperwork and more time growing their operations, as it should be.”

“BizPaL provides Penticton with an exciting new opportunity to serve our small business community,” said Mayor Kimberley. “I’d like to thank our council for their support in bringing BizPaL to Penticton.”

Area business owners and entrepreneurs can access the service by visiting www.penticton.ca and selecting “BizPaL – Permits & Licenses” under “Online Services,” or www.bcbizpal.ca. The Province is looking forward to expanding BizPaL to other areas of British Columbia over the next year.

Visit bizpal.ca for additional project history, information and access to the websites of participating partners.