Prince George, B.C.- Today marks the start of Red Tape Awareness Week in Canada, and B.C.is getting credit for it’s efforts to remove and reduce red tape.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business says B.C. has been leading the way in  cutting red tape, but there is still a long way to go. 

 

Speaking on the Meisner program this morning on CFISFM, CFIB vice president Laura Jones says there are still some horror stories from across the country.

 

Although she credits B.C. for making great progress, she talks of a case involving the Grand Trunk Inn restaurant and liquor store in Vanderhoof. She says that business found out the hard way that following the rules to the letter isn’t good enough for some liquor inspectors.  Staff noticed an intoxicated person on the premises, and asked the person to leave the premises as soon as he stopped dancing (as the rules say). Because his staff didn’t intervene on the dance floor (as the rules say not to), the business was shut down for 12 days and seven staff members were out of work.

You can read more examples from across Canada by visiting the CFIB website at www.cfib-fcei.ca/redtape

 

 

B.C. leads the country in reducing regulatory requirements, here are some of the changes that have been made over the past 10 years:

 

* The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure: Introduced a more streamlined Vehicle Inspection Regulation, improving the process for small businesses with a net decrease of 2,201 regulatory requirements.

 

* BizPal: This online service provides one-stop access to permit and licence information for all levels of government. The program reduces document research time and helps entrepreneurs start a business faster. A

process that once took seven hours has been reduced to 20 to 30 minutes.

 

* Environmental Protection Office: Reduced pesticide certification time from 42 to 14 days.

 

* Road permits: Time required for road permit approvals has been reduced from 20 to 14 business days.

 

* Liquor licensing: Streamlined by reducing the number of licence classes from 19 to two.

 

* The Venture Capital Program: Eliminated eight out of 17 forms and many complex processes.

 

 

CFIB has long championed regulatory reform and estimates the burden of red tape costs Canadian businesses at $30 billion each year in compliance costs alone. Over the course of Red Tape Awareness Week, which runs Jan. 10-14, CFIB will be conducting a series of special initiatives to draw attention to the issue and encourage entrepreneurs across Canada to advocate for change.