Prince George, B.C. – If you live in rural BC and are a leader in your community then the provincial government would like to hear from you.

Applications to take part in the Rural Advisory Council are being accepted from now until January 9, 2015 (click here to apply).

Donna Barnett, Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Development, will chair the council and says it’s something brand new.

“The Premier recognized the hard work that was done by the three pine beetle coalitions putting together a document asking for a rural advisory council to work on rural issues. Lots of times policies don’t have a rural lens.”

She says the council will provide advice in three areas:

Avenues to support greater rural access to capital
Stronger business development support for rural entrepreneurs and business
Moving forward on the Rural Dividend

Barnett says anybody can apply and says the only prerequisite is a “passion for rural BC and the understanding of its needs.”

She says they’ll be recruiting 10 to 18 members from areas with populations of 15,000 people or fewer.

“Rural BC is hard to define but we’re looking at rural, resource based areas like Fraser Lake, Mackenzie, Vanderhoof and unincorporated areas in regional districts.”

Barnett expects the council to begin meeting by late January or early February.

Once established, she says the council will forward recommendations to the Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.

“Recommendations will go to Minister Steve Thomson and then of course the Premier will be a very big part of this with meetings once a year.”