BRITISH COLUMBIA LEADS SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH IN CANADA

VICTORIA – Employment in British Columbia’s booming small business sector grew at more than four times the national average last year, the Honourable Carol Skelton, Minister of National Revenue and Minister Responsible for Western Economic Diversification, and Rick Thorpe, Minister of Small Business and Revenue and Minister Responsible for Regulatory Reform, announced today in releasing Small Business Profile 2006.

“Canada’s New Government recognizes the importance of working in partnership with the Ministry of Small Business and Revenue to create an environment where entrepreneurs can move forward and thrive,” said Minister Skelton. “Through Western Economic Diversification Canada’s Business Service Network, a group of community-based organizations, we are providing small business owners with the resources they need to start and grow successful businesses.”

“Clearly, on the small business front, we are far surpassing our government’s goal of creating more jobs per capita than anywhere else in Canada,” said Thorpe. “This is an incredible achievement by British Columbia’s small business community, which continues to provide 57 per cent of the private-sector jobs in our province – the highest rate in the country.”

Small Business Profile 2006 is the latest in an annual series of reports prepared by BC Stats with funding from the Ministry of Small Business and Revenue and Western Economic Diversification Canada. Highlights of this year’s profile:

· It is estimated that there are more than one million British Columbians working in small businesses.

· The number of small businesses operating in the province increased for the fourth consecutive year, up 1.7 per cent from 2004.

· British Columbia derives more gross domestic product from small business than any other province – 26 per cent, well above the Canadian average of 22 per cent.

· 98 per cent of all businesses in British Columbia are small businesses.

· British Columbia was the highest among the provinces – almost 10 per cent above the Canadian average – in small businesses advertising on their own websites.

· Regionally, the Northeast saw the fastest growth in the number of new small businesses over the past five years, with growth averaging 3.8 per cent – or approximately 200 new businesses – per year.

“It is very encouraging to see significant small business growth in smaller communities and larger centres alike and, as the Small Business Profile illustrates, this is leading to unprecedented success,” said Thorpe. “Our government has worked in partnership with the small business sector to create a competitive tax system, listened to entrepreneurs through the Small Business Roundtable, cut red tape by more than 41 per cent and partnered with industry to support their need for skilled labour.”

“Governments continue to demonstrate they understand the importance of the small business sector to British Columbia’s economy,” said Kevin Evans, western vice-president of Retail Council of Canada and vice-chair of the Small Business Roundtable. “The focus is on making British Columbia the most small-business-friendly jurisdiction in Canada – and the results are beginning to speak for themselves.”

Small Business Profile 2006 can be found at www.sbr.gov.bc.ca/smallbusiness/information_guides.htm online.

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Media contact:	Theresa Lumsdon Communications Director 250 889-3502 (cell)	Bernée Bolton Communications Manager Western Economic Diversification 604 666-1324

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