Saturday, July 9, 2011

Pat Bell's Top Ten for July 9th

1. The BC Arts Council received $16,831,000 from the provincial government to help fund artists and cultural organizations in British Columbia for 2011-12. Arts groups large and small apply to the BC Arts Council – an independent agency of the Province – to support opportunities for artists, strengthen local economies and enhance quality of life for citizens in communities across British Columbia.
This year’s funding will benefit artists, major cultural organizations and institutions, as well as local community arts councils. British Columbia’s diverse and robust arts scene draws significant support annually from the BC Arts Council for art galleries, theatres, orchestras, museums, festivals and more.

2. From improving wheelchair accessibility in Haida Gwaii to removing invasive plant species in the Kootenays, parks will benefit from more than $900,000 in funding from the Province and communities across B.C. to mark BC Parks’ 100th anniversary. BC Parks is providing $450,000 to community groups through the Community Legacy Fund to support improvements to 27 parks across the province. To be eligible for funding, community groups were required to contribute to the project either with financial or in-kind contributions. Groups receiving funding through the program are contributing a total of nearly $470,000 in cash and in-kind support for a total project value of nearly $920,000. In our region School District 57, Prince George Aboriginal Education received $19,500 for work at Eskers Provincial Park establishing Ethnobotany (the study of culture and botany) tour signage.

3. The Province is helping communities deliver essential services and keep families safe with a $91-million payment – the second 2011 instalment of the Strategic Community Investment Fund (SCIF). This investment includes advance payments of Small Community and Regional District Grants and the Traffic Fine Revenue Sharing program. A first instalment of $60 million was paid to communities in March of this year and future instalments are planned for June 2012 and June 2013.


4. The Province is continuing its strong support for the work of British Columbia’s Provincial Sport Organizations (PSOs) by providing them with more than $9 million in funding for 2011/12. This latest round of funding will allow the sport organizations to serve the needs of grassroots sport in every B.C. community, as well as developing British Columbia’s best athletes and coaches, enabling PSOs to build their membership and upgrade the high-quality programming they provide across the province. PSOs include sports as diverse as swimming and netball, soccer and wheelchair basketball, gymnastics and football.

5. The Province is adding 30 new web cameras to its DriveBC network this year to provide additional real-time coverage of highway conditions, helping motorists plan safe journeys. This will bring the total of web images available on DriveBC to over 200. Sites have been confirmed for 17 of the 30 new web cameras. Installation of these has begun, with site research continuing for the remainder. Priority for new web cameras is given to routes prone to extreme weather or traffic congestion, and for sites where there isn’t already a nearby webcam.


6. Regulations are being streamlined for large commercial vehicles travelling across the boundaries of the three westernmost provinces. Under the New West Partnership Trade Agreement, the governments of Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan agreed to have consistent regulations and policies governing the operation of large transport trucks, without compromising safety. Uniform rules about the size and weights of vehicles and other aspects of trucking operations will come into effect July 1, allowing trucks to operate more efficiently between provinces. The provinces will continue to work together on future changes to ensure that, as much as possible, one set of rules will apply from the eastern border of Saskatchewan and across Alberta to the coast of British Columbia. During consultations with the trucking industry over the last year, other opportunities for streamlining the regulations were put forward, and the provinces will now work towards achieving these changes by July 2012.

7. B.C.’s life science innovators have won all three national company-of-the-year awards at the world’s largest biotechnology convention this week. As well, they’ve signed an agreement that will see North Germany and B.C. pool their expertise, and speed-dated through hundreds of meetings to sow the seeds for future partnerships. Team BC, a delegation of about 100 life sciences experts from 40-plus companies and research agencies, is being led by LifeSciences BC and Dr. Moira Stilwell, Parliamentary Secretary for Industry, Research and Innovation.


8. Government is proclaiming 2011 the Year of the Entrepreneur, extending its commitment to reducing red-tape, and showing leadership as the first government in Canada to enshrine in law a commitment to publish annual provincial reports on regulatory accountability in B.C.. The Province is reducing the cumbersome steps and time involved in accessing government services and complying with regulatory requirements by:
-Extending government’s commitment to no net-increases in regulations to 2015.
-Introducing legislation to ensure progress on regulatory accountability is reported annually.
-Reducing the regulatory burden on citizens and small businesses, as well as streamlining and simplifying government processes.

9. Statistics Canada released its annual Canadian Community Health Survey today confirming that B.C. still holds the top spot among provinces when it comes to living healthy lifestyles. The 2010 Canadian Community Health Survey shows that, among provinces:
- British Columbians (ages 12 and over) have the highest physical activity rates at 59.1 per cent.
- B.C. has the lowest smoking rate in Canada at 17.8 per cent.
- British Columbians rank second for fruit and vegetable consumption (five or more times per day) at 43 per cent.
- Adult British Columbians have the lowest self-reported obesity rates at 44.4 per cent and youth (ages 12-17) also have the lowest rates of obesity at 17.8 per cent.
- B.C. has the lowest rates of binge drinking with 15.7 per cent of British Columbians drinking more than five drinks on one occasion.

10. Innocent victims of the wrongful actions of another person under the same insurance contract can now no longer be denied coverage. Historically, if a couple owned a house together and one spouse intentionally damaged it or burned it down, the other spouse – the innocent co-insured – under the same contract could be denied coverage. The changes approved today allow the innocent person to recover losses proportionate to their share of the insured property, while only the guilty party is denied coverage. The person making a claim as an innocent co-insured must co-operate with the insurer and submit to an examination under oath on request, and the statutory amendment only applies to natural persons making an individual claim – not corporations.

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