Forest and Environment News:

Forest Expo 2006 – Quickscribe will be an exhibitor at this year’s ABCFP conference to be held Feb. 22-24, 2006 in Victoria. Come by and visit us at booth #42 right next to the registration desk. We’ll be offering a draw for a great prize and we can let you in on some exciting new developments planned for 2006.

Softwood Lumber Trade Update – CVD Duties: The U.S. Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports has challenged the DOC de minimus subsidy determination of November 22. The NAFTA Panel has until February 20 to respond. Byrd: The U.S. Senate has voted to repeal the Byrd Amendment but not until October 2007. The repeal will not affect cash deposits collected prior to that date. For more information please see the following websites: BC Lumber Trade Council, Government of Canada or Government of BC.

SAFE Companies Program – The BC Forest Safety Council has announced a comprehensive industry-led initiative designed to dramatically improve safety in the forest sector. The SAFE Companies program requires all operations in the sector to become qualified as Safety Accord Forestry Enterprise (SAFE) companies. A Forestry Safety Ombudsman is also being created along with a number of Safety Advocates. By endorsing the SAFE Company program, the executives of BC's largest forest companies have committed that their companies and all those who work for them will become certified under the program. Pilot programs begin this spring, and the SAFE Companies program will be fully operational by the fall of 2007. For more information see the Safety Council website.

Labour and Company News:

Labour Bulletin – Click here for Staples McDannold Stewart's Labour Bulletin with the article Court of Appeal Overturns Decision in Hubbard v. West Vancouver (District), Adopts More Pragmatic Approach to Staff Input After Public Hearings.

Local Government News:

For Local Government Clients Only – Local government clients will soon notice some minor cosmetic changes to their Quickscribe Online account. Specifically, changes to the colour schemes and contact information will now reflect the fact that iCompass is your new point of contact for your online subscription. Rest assured, the overall features and functionality of this program will not be changed.

New Municipal Funding Opportunity for Energy Projects – The Green Municipal Fund (GMF) has a new energy sector funding opportunity to offer municipal governments and municipal energy utilities. This new allocation is a long-term, sustainable source of low interest rate loans and grants for municipal governments and their partners to support environmental projects in six categories: Energy, Waste, Water, Sustainable Transportation, Brownfield Remediation, and Integrated Community Planning. Annual funding caps have been established limiting the number of projects that will be supported each year. See the press release.

New Service Links Municipalities to Sell Tax Certificates through BC OnLine – Beginning Jan. 1st, 2006, customers of the BC OnLine service have one stop shopping to obtain Municipal Tax Certificates through BC OnLine and pay for them out of their deposit account with BC OnLine. "Tax Certificates Online" is a web service that orders and receives tax certificates from any participating Municipal software system based on the property’s Parcel Identifier (PID).

Updated Local Government Fact Sheets Now Available – UBCM has updated its series of local government Fact Sheets in time for the Newly Elected Official Seminars. To access all 30 Fact Sheets in UBCM online library, see Fact Sheets.