Episode 18: New West entrepreneur Rich Patterson speaks about the state of small business in the Royal City

Special guest Rich Patterson appears on For the Record to speak about the state of our small businesses in New Westminster. Patterson speaks about how the local Chamber of Commerce was negatively impacted by the pandemic but is now seeing a resurgence of new members. Some of the other topics we explore include how the City's business license application process could be reformed to raise greater awareness of the Chamber and its activities. Fontaine also provides an opening commentary on a recent vote at New West City Hall which turned down making reforms to the Local Election and Campaign Finance Act. He argues there remain many loopholes that remain in the Act which lawfully permit corporations, unions and non-profits to influence the outcome of the municipal elections without any of their activities being recorded and reported to Elections BC. In this podcast we also explore the growing 'capacity crisis' facing our local school district. Global TV news did a great segment on this topic and it helped to raise awareness of the problem facing our students, parents and teachers. Of course, what would an episode of For the Record be without playing the ever-popular "Bell or Buzzer" which features four amazing trivia questions about New West. Tune in to see if Rich was able to get all of the answers right! For the Record is available for download on all major platforms. If you like this episode, be sure to tell your friends and family and get them to follow.