BizPaL Program Funding Extended as BizPaL Launches in

West Vancouver, British Columbia

WEST VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 22, 2008 

Today, the Government of Canada, the Government of British Columbia and the District of West Vancouver celebrated the launch of BizPaL in West Vancouver and the extension of funding for the BizPaL initiative by $3 million annually until March 31, 2011.

BizPaL is an innovative project that provides entrepreneurs with simplified access to the information on permits and licences that 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 encountered by small business owners.

The BizPaL service in West Vancouver was developed with the support of Industry Canada, in collaboration with the District of West Vancouver and the Province of British Columbia.

"The Government of Canada is pleased to welcome West Vancouver to the BizPaL program as we extend BizPaL program funding to March 31, 2011," said the Honourable Diane Ablonczy, Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism). "This funding will allow us to increase the number of communities with access to BizPaL and strengthen our support of small businesses in Canada."

"BizPaL is consistent with our government's goal of cutting the red tape burden on small businesses," said Ralph Sultan, Member of the Legislative Assembly for West Vancouver–Capilano. "Entrepreneurs will have more time to focus on growing their businesses."

"BizPaL provides the District of West Vancouver with an exciting new opportunity to serve our business community," said Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, Mayor of West Vancouver. "I'd like to thank council for their support, and provincial and municipal staff for implementing BizPaL in West Vancouver."

Area business owners and entrepreneurs can access the service by visiting http://www.westvancouver.ca/bizpal or http://www.bcbizpal.ca. The Province is looking forward to expanding BizPaL to other areas of British Columbia over the next year.

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