A warm and friendly wish

for a very happy holiday to all!

Nominate Your Favorite Businesses/Individuals for a 2012 Excellence Award

The Penticton & Wine Country Chamber of Commerce is once again proudly presenting the Annual Business Excellence Awards. These awards recognize businesses and persons in Penticton and area that have achieved excellence in the community through their own abilities, efforts and initiatives. Recipients of an award display a significant and sustained commitment to positive business development, economic growth and diversity within the region.

There are ten award categories in all. If you know of such a business or person, don't miss the chance to showcase them! Get all the details and the nomination form today at Nomination Form. Nominations close at Noon December 20, 2013.

The awards gala takes place Saturday, February 9th, 2013 at the Penticton Trade & Convention Centre. Ticket pricing is $70+HST each until Noon December 31st, and $85+HST each after that.

Penticton's building code changes in December

The City of Penticton is introducing changes to its building codes. Permit applications brought in to City Hall prior to December 20th, 2012 can be reviewed and inspected under the current 2006 BC Building Code. All applications made on or after December 20th, 2012 will be required to meet the new code requirements.

Pick up applications and forms on the second floor of City Hall. For further information regarding the new 2012 BC Building Code and how to order, go to www.bccodes.ca.

Is your business prepared for the transition back to the PST?

A recent survey by the BC Chamber of Commerce has revealed that 63% of businesses do not feel prepared for the transition back to the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) on April 1, 2013. In total 970 businesses across BC took part in the PST business survey, and of those, across all sectors and areas of the province, the majority responded that they were not aware of the changes to the PST and that they felt unprepared for the transition to PST.

The Penticton Chamber is hosting two upcoming seminars on January 24, 2013; one in the morning from 8:30a - 10:30a, the other in the afternoon from 2:00p - 4:00p; both at the Penticton & Wine Country Visitor Centre located at 553 Railway Street in Penticton. These seminars are free but registration is required and they are filling up fast. Call 250.492.4013 to register today.

Or you can sign up for special one-hour webinars covering the general principles of the PST. Webinars are scheduled for the following dates: December 18, January 8, 10, 15, 17, 22 and 24. For more information and to sign up, see the online registration form.

Businesses also have opportunity for one-on-one consultations with provincial sales tax specialists to help answer questions on the PST as well as the new registration process. For more information, visit www.gov.bc.ca/PSToutreach

A new provincial sales tax notice, General Transitional Rules for the Re-Implementation of the Provincial Sales Tax has also been issued. The transition rules describe how and when PST applies to transactions that straddle April 1, 2013 and should be read in conjunction with federal transitional rules for the elimination of the HST in B.C. The rules outlined in the notice are subject to the approval of the legislature. For more on all the details of the transition visit www.pstinbc.ca.

Transition for Elimination of Penny is February 4, 2013

In the 2012 budget, the government announced it was eliminating the penny from Canada's coinage system. As of February 4, 2013, the Royal Canadian Mint will no longer circulate pennies. On this date, businesses are encouraged to begin rounding cash transactions.

As pennies exit circulation, cash payments or transactions will need to be rounded, either up or down to the nearest five-cent increment. Cheque and electronic transactions do not need to be rounded as they can be settled electronically to the exact amount. Visit www.fin.gc.ca/1cent to find out more about this initiative.

Plain Language Workshop

Learn how you can use plain language to send clear messaging that helps you save time and money! Thursday, January 17, 2013 Literacy Now South Okanagan-Similkameen is hosting a free seminar (including a take-away manual) on plain language at the Penticton & Wine Country Visitor Centre, 553 Railway Street from 9:15a-12:15p. Space is limited to 20 participants. Register by January 11, 2013 as the workshop will be postponed if there is insufficient interest for this date. To register call 250.462.0636 or email literacynowsos@gmail.com

BC Chamber News - BC Agenda Update

The foundation of the BC Agenda for Shared Prosperity, a partnership initiative between BC Chamber of Commerce and the Business Council of BC, is to develop a common fact base around the issues, concerns and opportunities that exist in all regions of the province. To begin this process, the BC Chamber and Business Council held a number of regional workshops in partnership with local chambers to bring together business and community leaders.

So far workshops were held in Kelowna, Nanaimo, Terrace, Kamloops, Prince George, and Langley. These workshops allowed the BC Chamber and Business Council of BC to engage over 150 leaders on the need for a new dialogue and a new approach to prosperity. The culmination of these regional workshops will be a major summit in the early spring in Vancouver. This summit will bring together international speakers who will outline the global challenges and opportunities facing BC. In addition, the findings and the information collected in the various sessions around the province will be presented.

While the summit will be the culmination of the regional workshop process, it will also be the launch pad for a broader conversation. The summit will engage thought leaders from across the province to come together to begin a provincial dialogue on how to build truly shared prosperity for all British Columbians.

For all the latest BC Chamber of Commerce news releases, letters, editorials and information, bookmark http://www.bcchamber.org/news/index.html

Canadian Chamber News - Top 10 Barriers

This year the Canadian Chamber launched its first Top 10 Barriers to Competitiveness list. The aim of this initiative was to bring greater focus to chamber advocacy work, direct attention to the key impediments holding back Canada's progress, and urge the government to act more swiftly in increasing our country's ability to compete internationally. The barrier that was identified as being the greatest impediment to the success of Canadian business is the growing skills crisis. Thanks to chamber network efforts, this issue is now on everyone's mind, with the Prime Minister recently indicating that overcoming this crisis is now the government's biggest challenge.

Due to the success of this initiative, and the important dialogue it spurred, the Canadian Chamber is making this an annual initiative. The list will evolve each year as progress is made on given issues. The 2013 Top 10 Barriers to Competitiveness list will be announced in mid February.

For all the latest Canadian Chamber of Commerce news releases, letters, editorials and information, bookmark http://www.chamber.ca/index.php/en/news/