Whistler’s entrepreneurs now have shorter bridges to cross when it comes to establishing small businesses.
Diane Ablonczy, federal secretary of state for small business and tourism, was in Whistler on May 22 to announce Whistler’s participation in BizPal, an online business permit and license service meant to reduce red tape and help businesses get started faster.
“Things just got a whole lot easier for businesses in
Whistler,” she said. “We are very excited because this helps small businesses,
which, really, are the backbone of our economy.”
It works like this: entrepreneurs can log on to BizPal through
the websites for either the Resort Municipality of Whistler or the Whistler
Chamber of Commerce.
The user is then guided through a series of questions that ask
them to identify the type of business they hope to operate, whether food,
retail or otherwise. The user must then answer a series of questions related to
areas such as electrical wiring, zoning and various other considerations when
establishing a business.
Once the questions are answered, the user is shown which
permits they will need to apply for at every level of government, including
municipal, provincial and federal levels.
Ablonczy said Whistler is one of the first municipalities to
sign up for the program, despite the fact that over 100 communities have
already signed up for the service, and over 30 of them are in British Columbia.
Gordon McKeever, acting mayor for the RMOW, was also on hand for the announcement.
Before BizPal, he said the process of applying for a business license was a matter of “trial and error” and said the new program can inform entrepreneurs about the permits they need in a single web portal, reducing the amount of time it takes to figure out what to apply for.
“Our government benefits as we will now be able to provide more
timely and pertinent license information online,” McKeever said. “The community
at large benefits as businesses are better able to focus on what's important
— growing and improving businesses and services.”
He added that over 30 different types of licenses and permits can be accessed through BizPal.
“This is very important in a place like Whistler where the
economy is largely generated by small business,” he said. “I have previewed the
program and I see that it’s user-friendly and an effective program in
determining businesses’ unique needs and regulatory requirements.”
Rick Thorpe, British Columbia’s minister of small business and
revenue, was also present at the announcement and said that, based on his
experience as a businessman, too much time is being taken up by applications
for permits.
BizPal, he said, can help streamline that process.
“You've got all these things in one place so people can
actually get that menu of things they can do,” Thorpe said. “This is another
step in how we make things easier to streamline and simplify for businesses.”
Many of BizPal’s questions concern matters that can be
encountered far into the process of starting a business, such as whether the
entrepreneur will install a new elevator or change existing electrical wiring.
Thorpe, however, said BizPal should be a first stop for
entrepreneurs.
“You might want to know how far it is across the lake before you start swimming across the lake,” he said. “If you go down and you're developing your business plan and you go to your bank... you can incorporate all of those things that you've thought about and those folks will know that you're very serious.”
