"Cutting red tape is not about cutting corners, but about making sure business owners can focus their time and energy on their business, rather than on processes that create frustration and delays," Saskatchewan's Enterprise Minister Jeremy Harrison said earlier this week. "Our government's main objective is to lay the foundation for citizens and businesses of Saskatchewan to thrive economically, and reducing the burdens associated with red tape will provide us a competitive advantage in the global economy."
It's Red Tape Awareness Week In Saskatchewan and across Canada - a government initiative intended to make life easier for small businesses - and according to the CFIB (Canadian Federation of Independent Business) it's a necessary to initiative.
As part of the week, the CFIB has released a report card on the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) customer service experience. With an overall grade of C-minus and Ds in three of the five categories assessed, the results show that CRA has plenty of room for improvement.
A particular weakness highlighted in the report card was the difficulty some callers had just trying to connect with an agent with 14 per cent of calls taking more than one attempt because of busy signals. On two occasions callers spent an entire day trying to get through. When callers did connect to CRA, they typically had to go through four or five automated prompts before being able to connect with an agent the CFIB points out.
When callers were able to get through to an agent, CFIB found that the information they were looking for was not always readily available or correct.
"Taxpayers simply can't afford to get incorrect information and bad advice from CRA since when the auditor comes knocking it isn't considered a valid excuse and you can find yourself seriously out of pocket when you thought you were in compliance," says Corinne Pohlmann, Vice President of National Affairs.
And she's completely correct.
Saskatchewan in particular is poised for growth above many areas in Canada. Now is our time to shine and if starting or maintaining a business is an exercise in futility, people will go where that's not the case. Hopefully through initiatives like this, we'll identify problem areas and create the best business friendly atmosphere possible so we can climb to all time new heights.
