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WorkBC Action Plan

British Columbia’s economy is strong, and this is good for all of us – workers, employers, educators, trainers, and government. But with this strength comes major challenges and necessary changes. The changes affecting our province today are unprecedented - the result of four broad trends coming together: an advantaged position in the world marketplace, a growing economy, an aging workforce, and fewer young people entering the job market. These factors have combined to create an increasing shortage of skilled workers across our province. Our challenge is to respond effectively to these changes. Source.

New fitness tax credit

Special tax breaks, such as the federal Conservative government's new fitness tax credit to put kids in sports, add to the compliance and administrative costs of Canada's tax system, which are close to $31 billion, or nearly $1,000 for every Canadian, the Fraser Institute said in a report Thursday.  Preparing, filing and submitting tax returns plus maintaining a government bureaucracy to manage and regulate the tax system cost Canadians between $19 billion and $31 billion in 2005, says the report by the right-leaning think-tank.  "When you add up all the costs -- the time and effort spent obtaining or providing receipts and other documents, preparing and submitting the actual tax return, plus the cost of a government bureaucracy to manage the system -- they worked out to between $19 billion and $31 billion in 2005," said Jason Clemens, director of fiscal studies at the institute and co-author of the study. "That translates to a cost of $585 to $955 for every man, woman and child in the country."  Source.

Life insurance

Life insurance makes sense when you have a young family to worry about. But it may also be a good idea when that family is grown up and has a family of its own.  Heather Clarke, vice-president of insurance services at Investors Group, said when people are younger they think about what could happen if they died, leaving behind kids and a mortgage. But as people get older their thoughts turn to preserving their estate, and insurance can help do that too, she said.  If a person has $500,000 in assets they would like to leave to their children and if some of that is taxable, then one way to preserve the inheritance is to buy an insurance policy that pays out the amount of tax that will be owing, Clarke said. Source.

UBC profs get $627,000 for forest research

Three University of B.C. professors have received $627,000 for research projects related to sustainable forest management -- including a look at the effects of rising water tables in dying pine forests.  The non-profit Sustainable Forest Management Network has given $196,500 to Bruce Larson, Forest Renewal B.C. chair of silviculture, $241,000 to Paul McFarlane, head of the department of wood science, and $190,000 to Dan Moore, Forest Renewal B.C. chair of forest hydrology.  Moore's group intends to look at the effects of major disturbances -- such as the mountain pine beetle infestation -- on forest hydrology. Specifically, they'll examine changes in the way water moves through the landscape once the trees are dead or gone.  Source.

Interfor plans Interior mill

Interfor announced plans Thursday to spend $100 million on a new state-of-the-art Interior sawmill with special design features to handle beetle-killed pine.  Company president Duncan Davies announced the new mill, replacing an existing facility at Adams Lake northeast of Kamloops, at Interfor's annual general meeting in Vancouver.  "The new sawmill at Adams Lake is specifically designed to address the challenge of timber killed by the mountain pine beetle; the mill will incorporate proven technology," Davies told shareholders.  Interfor has already spent $30 million on a new bio-energy system that uses wood waste and has built new kilns at the site.  Source.

Website alerts employers to talents of disabled workers

A new government website that links employers with people who have disabilities is aimed at reducing high unemployment among that group.  That's the word from a senior policy analyst with the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance who helped set up the new site.  "This is very important, because it's so important to have accessibility for all of our people," Rachael Ross, who works with the minister's council on employment for person with disabilities, said in an interview about the site, www.workablesolutionsbc.ca. "In B.C., there are 300,000 working-age people with disabilities. Forty-four per cent are employed. For people without disabilities, the employment rate is 68 per cent.  Source.

Information & Communications Technology

A not-for-profit sector council, the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC), formerly the Software Human Resource Council. ICTC strives to create a strong, prepared and highly educated Canadian ICT industry and workforce. ICTC is a catalyst for change, pushing for innovations that will provide skills definitions, labour market intelligence, career awareness and professional development for the Canadian ICT industry, educators and governments. We forge partnerships that will help develop the quantity and quality of ICT professionals needed to maintain and improve Canada’s position as a leader in the global marketplace.

To achieve these goals, ICTC focuses on four main areas that are proven building blocks for a healthy, successful and forward-looking sector:

Skills Definition
Labour Market Intelligence
Career Awareness
Professional Development

Trades are a first class career

Kwantlen University College officially opened its trades and technology training centre in Cloverdale on Friday -- 17,000 square metres of soaring glass and bright classrooms.  Key trade programs: automotive, electrical, welding, carpentry, millwright, farrier, appliance repair and public-safety 911 communications. Source.

Job satisfaction survey

While it remains the subject of debate whether money can truly buy happiness, a survey of job satisfaction found those at the top of the pay scale -- chief executive and chief financial officers, presidents and the like -- were most happy with their professional lot in life.  Source.

Toxic workplace

If you work in a psychologically toxic workplace, your health is at risk.  It's not just your physical well-being. While physical ailments can certainly stem from working in an unhealthy organization, including headaches, fatigue, heart problems and sleeplessness, so can emotional problems (depression, anxiety, stress). You may also suffer socially from interrupted family relationships, loss of interest in friends or extracurricular activities and experience career-related problems such as reduced interest in work, lack of motivation and faltering attention to the job.  Some types of environments are more unhealthy than others. Seven elements have been shown to contribute greatly to worker suffering:  see here.