January 20, 2011

Pictured above: Lee Richardson, MP for Calgary Centre takes part in a meeting of the Red Tape Reduction Commission in Calgary. The goal of the Commission is to help small and medium sized business compete more effectively by reducing unnecessary regulatory requirements.


PRIME MINSTER STEPHEN HARPER ANNOUNCES RED TAPE REDUCTION COMMISSION
Small and medium-sized businesses to benefit from reduced administrative burden



Prime Minister Stephen Harper, accompanied by Rob Moore, Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism), recently announced the creation of the Red Tape Reduction Commission, which will work to reduce the burden of federal regulatory requirements on Canadian enterprises, especially small- and medium-sized businesses.

“Small and medium-sized businesses are a critical driver of the Canadian economy,” said the Prime Minister.  “This initiative will help ensure that they can grow, prosper and create jobs without being impeded by unnecessary government regulations.”

The Red Tape Reduction Commission, chaired by Minister of State Moore, will help find effective and lasting solutions to support Canadian small- and medium-sized businesses.  It will consult with Canadians and Canadian businesses to identify irritants that have a clear detrimental effect on growth, competitiveness and innovation.  The Commission will also look at the cost associated with federal regulatory requirements that businesses face, and provide advice on permanent solutions for reducing the overall compliance burden. 

“Canadian businesses spend billions of dollars each year adhering to regulations,” added Lee Richardson, Member of Parliament “We need to look at where and how we can reduce these costs and this red-tape burden, especially on small businesses.”

The Commission is holding consultations with Canadians and Canadian businesses during a series of round tables beginning this month.



Backgrounder

RED TAPE REDUCTION COMMISSION

Delivering on the commitment announced in Budget 2010, the Harper Government has created the Red Tape Reduction Commission with the following mandate:

• To identify irritants to business stemming from federal regulatory requirements. The focus is on irritants that have a clear detrimental effect on growth, competitiveness and innovation.
• To recommend options that address the irritants on a long-term basis, while ensuring that the environment and the health and safety of Canadians are not compromised in the process.

While the initiative is led by the Honourable Stockwell Day, President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, the Commission is chaired by the Honourable Rob Moore, Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism).  Other Commission members include six representatives from the private sector and five parliamentarians:

• Hon. Rob Moore, Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism), Chair
• Catherine Swift, Canadian Federation of Independent Business
• Gord Peters, Cando Contracting, Ltd.
• Stirling MacLean, WearWell Garments Ltd.
• Bernard Bélanger, Premier Tech
• William Aho, Central Mechanical Systems, Ltd.
• Denis Prud’homme, former owner of Prud’homme Trucking
• Lee Richardson, Member of Parliament (Calgary Centre)
• Dean Allison, Member of Parliament (Niagara West-Glanbrook)
• Lois Brown, Member of Parliament (Newmarket-Aurora)
• Chris Warkentin, Member of Parliament (Peace River)
• Cathy McLeod, Member of Parliament (Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo)
• Maxime Bernier, Member of Parliament (Beauce)

The Commission will consult Canadian businesses and individuals through an online consultation process at www.reduceredtape.gc.ca, which will be open until March 31, 2011, and by hosting a series of roundtables across Canada. 

The Commission will build on past and ongoing Government initiatives to reduce the burden of complying with regulatory requirements on business in Canada. It takes a client-centered approach to reducing red tape.


RED TAPE REDUCTION ACHIEVEMENTS

Over the last three years, the Government has simplified regulatory and administrative requirements for Canadian businesses through the following steps:

• In March 2009, the Harper Government fulfilled its Budget 2007 commitment to reduce the paperwork burden by 20 per cent under the Paperwork Burden Reduction Initiative (www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ic1.nsf/eng/04513.html ).  The initiative eliminated almost 80,000 regulatory requirements and information obligations by streamlining regulations, eliminating duplicate requirements and overlapping obligations, and reducing information requirements.
• The Canada Border Services Agency is eliminating more than 1,600 obsolete, non-essential requirements for information and administrative demands that were imposed on business.  This represents a 20-per cent reduction in red tape for that one organization alone. (www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/media/release-communique/2009/2009-04-17-eng.html )
• The Record of Employment on the Web service (http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/ei/employers/roe_web.shtml offers a variety of benefits to business.  Some examples include:
• The ability to submit more than 1200 electronic Records of Employment (ROE) at once.
• The ability to import key ROE information back into a payroll system for easy reference and record keeping, eliminating the need to order and store paper ROE forms, or keep paper copies on file.
• Interactive functions and pre-filled information, online help and feedback to ensure forms are completed accurately, reducing the need for follow-up calls from the Government.
• The Canada Revenue Agency has reduced the frequency of required tax filings and remittances, benefiting small businesses.
• Services such as BizPaL (www.bizpal.ca) and the Canada Revenue Agency's My Business Account (www.cra-arc.gc.ca/esrvc-srvce/tx/bsnss/myccnt/menu-eng.html) streamlined the ways businesses interact with the Government.