ESSENTIALS - British Columbia: Including the Alaska Highway - page 764

Like the rest of North America, driving in Vancouver and Victoria under the influence of
alcohol or drugs is a criminal offense. Those convicted of driving with a blood alcohol con-
centration above 0.08 face big fines and an automatic one-year license suspension. Second
convictions (even if the first was out of province) lead to a three-year suspension. Note that
in British Columbia drivers below the limit can be charged with impaired driving. It is also
illegal to have open alcohol in a vehicle or in public places.
SMOKING
Smoking is banned in virtually all public places across Canada. Most provinces have enac-
ted province-wide bans on smoking in public places (including British Columbia, where a
blanket law went into effect in 2001), which includes all restaurants and bars.
TIPPING
Gratuities are not usually added to the bill. In restaurants and bars, around 15 percent of
the total amount is expected. But you should tip according to how good (or bad) the ser-
vice was, as low as 10 percent or up to and over 20 percent for exceptional service. The
exception to this rule is groups of eight or more, when it is standard for restaurants to add
15-20 percent as a gratuity. Tips are sometimes added to tour packages, so check this in ad-
vance, but you can also tip guides on stand-alone tours. Tips are also given to bartenders,
taxi drivers, porters, and hairdressers.
EMPLOYMENT AND STUDY
Whistler and the resort towns are especially popular with young workers from across
Canada and beyond. Aside from Help Wanted ads in local papers, a good place to start look-
ing for work is the Whistler Employment Resource Centre ( www.whistlerchamber.com ).
International visitors wishing to work or study in Canada must obtain authorization be-
fore entering the country. Authorization to work will only be granted if no qualified Cana-
dians are available for the work in question. Applications for work and study are available
from all Canadian embassies and must be submitted with a nonrefundable processing fee.
The Canadian government has a reciprocal agreement with Australia for a limited number
of holiday work visas to be issued each year. Australian citizens aged 30 and under are
eligible; contact your nearest Canadian embassy or consulate. For general information on
immigrating to Canada contact Citizenship and Immigration Canada ( www.cic.gc.ca ) .