During Premier Christy Clark’s brief visit to Kimberley for a business round table, Kimberley Chamber Manager Mike Guarnery brought up a couple of specific issues.
One was liquor licensing reform, which Clark said was a slow process that was being worked through, and the other was eligibility for specific training for those on employment insurance.
Guarnery’s question was around why those categorized as Tier 1, which is those who have minimal or no barriers to a return to work, are not eligible for the self employment program.
“What happens is that those who are identified as level 2, 3 or 4 have the opportunity to take the self employment training and get additional support to do it. We recognize it’s important for people with barriers to employment to have that opportunity, but we’d like to see people in Tier 1 have the same opportunity,” Guarnery said.
It’s particularly important in this area, he says, because often the only way younger people can remain in communities like Kimberley is to open their own businesses.
“We have no mill, very few big employers in town. Small business entrepreneurs drive our economy. Our business community has done an outstanding job. We need to make sure we are not missing the talent of new entrepreneurs and getting this self employment training is one way to do that.
“By excluding Tier 1 people from getting this training, we are missing an opportunity for talented people to become entrepreneurs.”
Premier Clark, upon hearing what Guarnery had to say, did say it was something she hadn’t thought of, and promised to look into it further.
