New five-year guide outfitter licences will save guides time and money, while lowering the administrative burden of government, the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations stated in a May 26 press release.

While the one-year licensing option will remain available, those guides who wish to renew for a longer term can now take advantage of the new five-year option. This will give guides a break on paperwork and provide them greater business certainty.

“We are pleased to make this administrative change that will ease the regulatory burden for guide outfitters so they can focus more on what they do best – giving people a world-class outdoor experience,” stated Steve Thomson, Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.

A five-year licensing scheme will also reduce administration costs for government. As an incentive for guides to take advantage of the new licence, the cost for a five-year licence will be set at $2,000, $500 less than if five consecutive one-year terms were purchased. One-year licence fees will remain at $500 per year.

The new regulation will also eliminate the $25 late payment fee currently in place for licences purchased after May 31. This fee disproportionately affects those intending to guide later in the licensing year. For example, guides who work only in the fall tend to pay this fee more often than those who work in the spring. An applicant who has not previously held a guide outfitter licence will pay a $25 fee with their application.

“The Guide Outfitters Association of British Columbia (GOABC) is pleased to see government offer five-year guide outfitter licences. This ‘red tape’ reduction is a win for government and the guide-outfitting industry. It will help foster a healthy business environment for our family-run, guide outfitting businesses, and it is another step towards improving business confidence and investor certainty for our sector,” said Scott Ellis, executive director of the Guide Outfitters Association of B.C.

This is the latest of several measures undertaken by the province to increase business certainty for guide outfitters in recent years. Earlier in 2014, amendments to the Wildlife Act will allow corporations as well as individuals to hold guiding territory certificates.

Another Wildlife Act amendment also replaces the licensing requirement for assistant guides with an authorization issued by the employing guide outfitter, giving guide outfitters more flexibility to hire help in unexpected peak periods. Regulations enacting both these changes are being developed for implementation for the 2015-16 guiding season.

Previous guide certainty initiatives include:

* Increasing the maximum length of the guiding territory certificate from 10 years to 25 years.

* Extending the deadline for filing a hunting report from 10 days after conclusion of the hunt to 30 days following the conclusion of the hunt.

* Lowering the minimum age of the assistant guide from 19 years to 18 years and removing the requirement of Canadian citizenship for assistant guides, to address recruitment challenges to the industry.

* Allowing guide outfitters to guide in more than one territory.

* Repealing the requirement that assistant guides actively guide and hold licences for 24 months in order to qualify for a guide outfitter licence.

* Ensuring that a guide territory certificate can be held not just by the guide outfitter but to others invested in the operation.

* Letting a Guiding Territory Certificate to be held by more than one person, which allows various forms of partnerships to be arranged for the benefit of guides and investors and for the arrangements to be recognized by government.

There are approximately 245 licensed guide outfitters in the province, employing over 2,000 people.

Roughly 5,000 non-residents hunt in the province each year.

The guide-outfitting industry brings an estimated $116 million in economic activity to the province each year.

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