To the Editor:
This week is Red Tape Awareness Week. Like many good ideas, it was born out of frustration. Red tape - or regulations run amok - imposes a huge hidden tax on all Canadians.
Small business owners are on the front lines of dealing with all its variations from dumb rules and lack lustre government customer service to regulatory obligations so onerous that they can threaten a business's very survival.
It can feel like death by a thousand paper cuts.
In survey after survey done by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, business owners complained about red tape and expressed frustration that governments at all levels were not taking the problem of red tape proliferation seriously enough.
Since governments tend to pay most attention to the issues that the general public cares about, we decided that helping Canadians understand the enormously destructive impact of red tape would help mobilize action.
Here are a few notable red tape facts:
Regulation costs Canadian businesses more than $30 billion a year; roughly 30 per cent of that, or $9 billion, is considered red tape.
Almost one-third of Canadian business owners say they might not have gone into business if they had known the burden of red tape.
Canadian small businesses pay 45 per cent more in compliance costs than their U.S. counterparts.
British Columbia has been a leader in red tape reform for more than a decade and had the only "A" on CFIB's red tape report card last year. In 2001, it committed to reduce red tape by one third. Since then, the province has cut red-tape by more than 40 per cent and maintained a commitment to get rid of one regulatory requirement for each new one imposed (this commitment expires in 2015, but hopefully will be extended).
Premier Christy Clark made reducing red tape a priority for all ministers in their mandate letters.
This year, B.C. continues to demonstrate leadership with two strong nominations for the Golden Scissors Award for best red tape cutting initiative: Minister Yamamoto for promoting mobile business licences and Mayor Young of Langford for eliminating the annual renewal of business licences.
Unfortunately, B.C. is also a strong contender for the new Paperweight "award" for the worst national example of red tape.
Multi-Material B.C., a new agency given its power by the B.C. government, is threatening businesses with some of the worst red tape we've ever seen. Its website tells businesses: "Ensure your legal and/regulatory affairs department is aware of your compliance obligations."
Reality check: My hairdresser doesn't have a regulatory affairs department! B.C. is a red tape reduction leader but needs to clean up its act when it comes to such "off book" regulatory activity.
While there will always be red tape to fight, Red Tape Awareness Week is making a difference and increasing the odds that we can reduce dumb rules faster than they proliferate.
This benefits all Canadians.
Laura Jones, Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
