The 4th session of the 39th Parliament concluded on May 31, 2012.

The session opened on February 14th, 2012, with a "prudent" Budget by Hon. Kevin Falcon, Minister of Finance, characterized as having BC on track for a balanced budget by 2013, shortly before the next scheduled election.

The focus of this legislative session echoed the government's broader priorities of jobs, families and open government. Sector specific strategies to support the goals of the BC Jobs Plan -expanding the market for BC products and services while creating jobs in the province - have been developed for natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), transportation, agrifoods, mining and international education.

Highlights of the session include:

• The Family Day Act, which introduces a new statutory holiday on the 2nd Monday in February;
• The Provincial Sales Tax Act, which begins the (legislative) transition from the HST to the GST/PST regime;
• The Pharmaceutical Services Act, which aims to further lower the cost of generic drugs;
• The Education Improvement Act, which implements a $195-million Learning Improvement Fund to provide additional support to teachers and administrators;
• Reaching the final increase of the minimum wage to $10.25 per hour; and
• The Income Tax Amendment Act, which establishes the B.C. First-Time New Home Buyers' $10,000 Bonus and the B.C. Seniors' $1,000 annual Home Renovation Tax Credit for those 65 years of age and older.

The Province  has announced funding for 190 nurse practitioner (NP) positions to be introduced over the next three years in an effort to meet the increasing demand for health care services due to an aging population and an increase in chronic diseases.

The $22.2 million initiative, known as Nurse Practitioners for BC (NP4BC), will begin this fall and is intended to assist in the full integration of nurse practitioners into the health care system.

BC Hydro has stated they are prepared to meet the needs of two new liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities that are proposed in Kitimat.

In the recent Draft Integrated Resource Plan 2012, BC Hydro explained that they are able to meet the needs for the Douglas Channel Energy Partnership and the Kitimat LNG facility; however, the plan 2012 notes that BC Hydro could have to provide significant additional energy because of other potential LNG projects.

This weekly report produced for the BC Chamber of Commerce by Fleishman-Hillard.  While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information included in this publication as of the date of issue, events and government policies are subject to frequent change.  Therefore, the BC Chamber of Commerce and Fleishman-Hillard cannot assume any responsibility for actions taken solely or principally on the basis on the information contained herein.