January 18, 2016
Province Launching Action Strategy to Work with Businesses to Cut Red Tape
– – –Strategy will Focus on Innovation, Better Communication, Reporting: Minister Dewar
The Manitoba government is launching a new action strategy to cut red tape and help grow small businesses, Finance Minister Greg Dewar announced today.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, driving economic growth and creating good jobs,” said Minister Dewar. “We recognize their unique needs, and we are committed to reducing red tape and making it even easier to do business in Manitoba.”
The new strategy is focused on better communication and reporting regarding regulatory changes, more innovative approaches to red tape reduction and advancing the adoption of the Manitoba Employers Council’s (MEC) Best Practices in Regulation Makingby provincial regulators.
The MEC advisory committee on red tape reduction includes representatives from Restaurants Canada, the Retail Council of Canada, the Manitoba and Winnipeg Chambers of Commerce, the Manitoba Home Builders’ Association and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
Minister Dewar acknowledged the important contribution of the MEC advisory committee on red tape reduction, which includes representation from leading business and industry organizations. In addition to the recommendations included in Best Practices in Regulation Making, government is working to implement other MEC recommendations including extending regulatory analysis to other sectors of the economy, such as restaurants, and delivering regulatory guidance services to businesses and entrepreneurs.
“We are pleased to see the government commit to adopting our Best Practices in Regulation Making guidelines and look forward to full, formal implementation,” said Dwayne Marling, chair, MEC advisory committee on red tape. “Streamlining the system and easing unnecessary regulatory burden benefits government and businesses alike.”
The new action strategy will focus on five pillars:
- recognizing and addressing the realities of running a small business,
- adopting best practices in regulation making,
- innovation in service delivery,
- sector-based approaches to reducing red tape, and
- focusing on better communication by government regarding regulatory changes and including more businesses input into the process to help them understand and prepare for changes.
The province’s new strategy builds on previous initiatives to reduce red tape including:
- establishing Entrepreneurship Manitoba, which improves service delivery and reduces red tape by providing a single window for businesses and entrepreneurs to access the programs and services they require ;
- introducing BizPaL, which provides comprehensive online information from federal, provincial and participating municipal governments on regulatory requirements for starting, operating and expanding a business;
- accelerating the use of the Business Number, which reduces red tape by enabling businesses to identify themselves with a single number;
- bundling services to make it faster and easier to start a business; and
- implementing LEAN management strategies to improve internal efficiencies and reduce red tape.
Almost 98 per cent of Manitoba’s businesses are small businesses, representing about 24 per cent of Manitoba’s GDP and account for more than two-thirds of private-sector jobs.
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