Privatization czar Ed Clark urges a cut in red tape to boost business in Ontario

Ed Clark wants the government to reduce the regulatory burden facing business.

Thestar.com
Nov. 12, 2015
By Robert Benzie

Ed Clark is seeing red over red tape.

Clark - Premier Kathleen Wynne’s privatization czar and the man bringing wine and beer to Ontario supermarket shelves as well as selling off Hydro One - wants the government to reduce the “regulatory burden facing business.”

Speaking to the Toronto Region Board of Trade on Thursday, the former TD Bank CEO bemoaned the bloated bureaucracy that stifles business in the province.

“Ontario has 380,000 regulatory requirements for business, almost double the number in some provinces,” Clark told a Bay Street audience at the King Edward Hotel luncheon.

“While the number is staggering, the structure and complexity of compliance is even more problematic. It makes us less competitive. We are seen by foreigners - and even ourselves - as a slow place to do business,” he said.

Echoing the 2014 campaign mantra of former Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak, Clark said Queen’s Park must “rethink regulation.”

“Governments are going to regulate things. That is their job. But they must - as in other things they do - try to be the better regulator. If they can do that they can become a source of competitive advantage,” he said.

“I would argue it’s time to look at regulation in a very different way - let’s take an outcome-based approach. In other words, what is the outcome we want, and what is the lowest-cost way of achieving it?”

Speaking to reporters afterward, Clark emphasized that cutting red tape does not mean having lax safety standards that can endanger the public.

“We are not trying to make worse outcomes. We’re not going to try to have more pollution or any of those things,” he said, adding Wynne backs his push.

“I think the premier is very supportive of the idea - she’s a very common-sense person.”

His comments came the same day it was announced Ontario raised $1.83 billion as expected from the sale of the first 15 per cent stake of Hydro One, the provincial transmission utility.

Wynne’s government plans to sell 60 per cent of the Crown company to raise $9 billion - $4 billion toward the province’s 10-year, $31.5-billion plan to build transit, roads and bridges, and $5 billion toward Hydro One’s debt.

Clark said the premier was “displaying political courage in moving to dilute the government’s ownership in Hydro One to free up the needed funds.”

“Winning jurisdictions have well-run governments capable of investing in the vital infrastructure of a modern economy,” he said.

The veteran business tycoon also urged Ontario to move toward advanced “smart manufacturing” and “avoid a race to the bottom” because the province cannot compete with low-wage jurisdictions.

“Up to now, we’ve been competing with Michigan, which we will still have to do, because they are adapting to the new economy. But today we must also compete with Massachusetts. What’s in Massachusetts? I’d say the future. Their focus is on competing in the 21st century.”

Ontario’s publicly funded hospitals and universities need to “sell our knowledge to the world” the way those in Massachusetts have been doing for years.

“Toronto matches Boston pound for pound. So what’s stopping us? A big reason is how we look at public institutions. They aren’t seen as assets that could grow our economy. They are seen as liabilities, which must be managed for costs.”