CFIB – Ontario a B- in Red Tape Awareness

TORONTO – BUSINESS – Today, during Red Tape Awareness Week™, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) issued its annual red tape report card, grading the provinces and territories on their commitment to red tape accountability. The report card looks at political leadership, public measurement, and constraints on regulations.

CFIB has been asking governments to take the first step to being accountable by getting on the red tape scale. “For governments that want a better grade, red tape reform has a simple formula: measure, report, repeat,” said Laura Jones, Executive Vice-president and Chief Strategic Officer at CFIB. “Without knowing the size of the problem, it’s impossible to tackle it – like trying to lose weight without first weighing yourself.”

Leading the way on red tape reduction are British Columbia and Quebec. Both provinces have shown strong leadership in dealing with red tape, have established a comprehensive measure of the regulatory burden, and has reduced or restricted the growth of unnecessary regulations.

“Kudos to British Columbia for showing leadership and continuing to hone in on the unnecessary regulations restraining small businesses,” proclaimed Jones. “Along with Quebec, they are showing the rest of the country how it’s done. Now we encourage them, and all the provinces and territories, to take up our challenge and legislate a one-for-one law.”

Government red tape is a hidden tax that affects Canada’s small businesses much more than larger firms. According to CFIB’s latest research, the annual cost of all regulations on businesses in Canada is estimated at $37 billion per year, with one-third of that ($11 billion) considered to be red tape.

CFIB is Canada’s largest association of small- and medium-sized businesses with 109,000 members across every sector and region.