New five-year guide outfitter licences will save guides time and money, while lowering the administrative burden of government.
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.
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.
This is the latest of several measures undertaken by the Province to increasebusiness 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.
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 proince each year.
