Premier in Markham in bid to cut red tape for Ontario business

Yorkregion.com
March 29, 2016
By Amanda Persico

This morning Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne launched the province's cut-the-red-tape challenge.

The announcement was made at Novo Plastics in Markham.

The new website is an effort to cut down on unnecessary regulatory paperwork and red tape for Ontario business owners.

The province is calling on residents and business owners to identify regulatory duplication, Wynne said.

"Tell us about forms that are too complicated," she said. "We need a smarter regulatory system."

The province has been chipping away at the red tape issue for several years, but it is time to do more, Wynne said.

The challenge is modelled after similar program in the United Kingdom, where more than 3,000 regulatory changes were made over three years saving more than $1.5 million per year.

While it is businesses who create jobs, it is the role of government to partner and support those businesses, Wynne said.

“One of the conditions of success is to free up businesses from unnecessary paper work, inspections and reporting,” she said. “This will give owners and employees more time to focus on growing their company’s productivity and competitiveness and growing their business.”

The focus of the crowd sourcing website is to make it easier for businesses to interact with government, she added.

Each suggestion will be vetted to ensure proposed changes are in keeping with current health and safety and environmental protection legislation.

The online forum will look at six different sectors over two years, starting with the automotive industry, followed by food processing, financial, mining, chemical manufacturing and forestry industries.

Comments and suggestions for a particular sector will be open for a two month period.

About six months after the open consultation process, the government will publish a report and working plan to implement changes.

To make a suggestion, visit ontario.ca/redtapechallenge