Government of Canada Moves Ahead to Cut Red Tape for Businesses

OTTAWA, May 1, 2008 -- The Honourable Diane Ablonczy, Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism), today announced that the Government of Canada is taking action to meet its commitment to reduce the paper burden for business by 20 percent this fall.

In September last year, 13 departments and agencies completed a baseline count of the obligations imposed on businesses in legislation, regulations, policies and forms. They are now implementing reduction plans toward the 20-percent target. This initiative is of particular importance for small and medium-sized businesses, which have limited resources to deal with administrative burden.

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Paperwork burden or "red tape" is the unproductive time and resources spent by businesses to understand and comply with rules and regulations. A 2001 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, entitled Businesses' Views on Red Tape: Administrative and Regulatory Burdens on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, found that small businesses face a disproportionate burden in complying with regulatory requirements as compared with larger businesses. This is particularly true for Canadian small businesses, given the cumulative requirements imposed by multiple orders of government.

The Paperwork Burden Reduction Initiative (PBRI) was launched in 2005 with the aim of making measurable reductions in the paperwork burden faced by small business. An Advisory Committee on Paperwork Burden Reduction (ACPBR), comprising small business representatives and government officials, was created and mandated to find practical and actionable ideas for early implementation. The committee was also asked to develop a measure of paperwork burden so that progress could be tracked over time, and to report regularly on its work to the Minister of Industry. The PBRI has the following three components.

Advisory Committee on Paperwork Burden Reduction
The ACPBR is a public–private sector committee co-chaired by Laura Jones, Vice-President, Western Canada, of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, and Marie Josée Thivierge, Assistant Deputy Minister, Small Business and Marketplace Services, Industry Canada. Other members include entrepreneurs and representatives from industry associations, provincial governments, and federal departments and agencies. The ACPBR tracks the cumulative impact of regulatory compliance on businesses of different sizes and identifies concrete initiatives for reducing this burden. The committee helps the Government of Canada develop effective and sustainable policies that consider the impact of regulatory burden. The scope of its work includes:

• gathering facts and assessing information relating to regulatory burden from stakeholders, such as industry associations, small business advisors and advisory committees, government departments and agencies, non-governmental organizations, and academia
• examining examples of international and national cooperation of administrative simplification strategies and practices and assessing their potential for application in Canada, including e-government and single-window access initiatives that demonstrate improvements in the timeliness, efficiency and predictability of regulatory services to business
• identifying and evaluating initiatives that could lead to burden reduction, such as regulatory flexibility (changing how compliance and enforcement services are delivered), regulatory tiering (varying requirements according to firm size), and broad-based approaches (integrated approaches that are applicable across government departments and agencies)
• implementing a triennial Survey of Regulatory Compliance Costs, reviewing the results and making recommendations based on findings
• preparing and delivering timely reports for consideration by the Minister of Industry and tabling with parliamentary committees

Survey of Regulatory Compliance Costs
Statistics Canada conducts a survey every three years that measures regulatory burden according to the sizes of the firms involved. The survey collects data on the cost of complying with federal, provincial/territorial and municipal regulations in the following categories:

• related to employees -- payroll remittances, records of employment and workers' compensation
• related to taxation -- T4 summary, T1/T2 income tax filing, goods and services/harmonized/provincial sales tax, and corporate tax instalments
• property taxes
• business operating licences and permits
• corporate registration
• mandatory Statistics Canada surveys

The first survey established a benchmark for measuring progress in meeting paperwork burden reduction targets. Results from the first survey results were made available in December 2006. Data collection for the repeat survey will take place in 2008–09, with results expected in
2009–10.

Regular Progress Reports
Reports to the Minister of Industry will include results from analysis undertaken by the ACPBR, progress made in burden reduction through initiatives implemented, and priorities for future work.

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