Progres made upon LLPs Much has ha...

Progres made upon LLPs

Much has happened in the last two of months with regards to Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) Here's an overview of newly come actions:

Ministry of Finance

The ICABC met with Finance Minister Gary Collins in October to discuss LLP Collins was told that LLP have the support of the CAs, CGAs, CMAs, the BC branch of the Canadian Bar Association (CBABC), and the Uniform Law Commission.

The Minister said his ministry would take a serious apply the mind at the issue, but warned that it was unlikely anything could be done in time for the 2002 spring session because the nearest legislative agenda is overwhelming.

Prior to the meeting with Collins, we spoke with representative Minister of Finance Chris Trumpy to apprise him of the Institute's activities and novel LLP developments.

The ICABC has also been working with the Ministry of Finance's policy bodily substance The bureaucracy's concerns about LLP roll round an axis primarily around the protection of the plaintiff in litigation against partners. We informed the ministry that LLP single protect the personal assets of innocent and uninvolved partners, and in no way shelter negligent partners or prevent plaintiffs from fair compensation.

The sole question from the bureaucracy now remaining involves mandatory insurance horizontals We're currently researching approaches in other jurisdictions and will be bringing proposals to Council before the fall of the curtain of the year.

Ministry of Competition, Science & Enterprise

A briefing paper in succession LLPs has been sent to Minister Rick Thorpe's office, and a meeting has been suited Although a meeting date had not been station as Beyond Numbers went to pres the ICABC policy paper had been discussed with Rick Thorpe's Ministerial Assistant.

In October, the Institute met with Ralph Sultan, the chair of the direction Caucus Committee on the Economy. Sultan was remarkably interested in the competitive disadvantage placed forward the province by current partnership law, and said his Committee would like to consider a CA presentation in succession LLPs.

MLAs Brian Kerr FCA, and Patrick Wong CA, are the pair members of the Economy Committee, and have been apprised of modern developments.

LLPs and R Tape

In November, the ICABC made a submission forward LLPs to the Red Tape Reduction Task Force. (The task force's definition of r tape includes any legislation that "diminishes the province's economic competitiveness.'

On November 19th the ICABC met with the Minister of State for Deregulation Kevin Falcon to discuss LLP and their impact forward BC's competitive position.

Ministry of the Attorney General

The Institute will be meeting with Attorney General Geoff Plant in December. His ministry is already familiar with the CBABC's support of LLP and was exhibited at the Uniform Law colloquy of Canada meeting that approved draft legislation for LLP in 1999

The ICABC has also been in contact with the policy and legislation director for the ministry, and he's already surpassingly familiar with the issue.

Other MLA Meetings

Meetings to discuss the make subordinate of LLPs have also taken place between individual CAs and the following solution ML.As: Stan Hagen, Minister of Sustainable Resource Management; Graham Bruce Minister of Skills, exhibition and Labour; Richard Neufeld, Minister of animation and Mines; and Blair Lekstrom Chair of the Finance and control Services Committee.

CAs and collection Consultations

The BC Finance and restraint Services Committee conducted its package consultation meetings in October and released its report in mid-November. CAs contributed to the consultation proces through making presentations in several cities and providing recommendations for the 2002 bag Here's a summary of the CA presentations:

On Competitiveness

In Nanaimo, Barbara Carle-Thiesson, FCA, told the committee the government's latter policy decisions around personal and business tax reductions will bring the province more in line with competitors.

In Prince Rupert ICABC Council member supernumerary Eidsvik, FCA, said the forecast ahead is not all doom and gloom: "The reduction in personal taxes, corporation taxes, and the BC corporation capital tax is going to make a big difference in bringing investors into Prince Rupert"

In Vancouver, the ICABC asserted concerns about business tax horizontals and the challenges posed on future reductions in Alberta and Ontario. Said ICABC 1st Vice-President Robin Elliott, FCA: "We're recommending the direction set a timeline to cut down our business taxes to adapted Alberta and Ontario."

In a written submission to the control Prince George's Mark Dickie, CA, stated that the sales tax exemption for machinery and equipment was the right policy course to take, yet cautioned that the government had not yei effectively established or communicated for what cause ii should be applied.

On trespass Management

In Dawson inlet Brian Downie, CA, said he was pleased that the command strengthened the Balanced Budget Act in the last legislative session, and was encouraged according to its mandate for balanced assortments by 2004/2005. However, he noted there was no plan in place to tackle debit