TORONTO – Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced plans Thursday to battle red tape for small- and medium-sized businesses by setting up a Red Tape Reduction Commission, a move Liberal critics say only creates `a bureaucracy to tackle the growth of bureaucracy.’
"Small- and medium-sized businesses are a critical driver of the Canadian economy," Harper said while visiting the Toronto area. "This initiative will help ensure that they can grow, prosper and create jobs without being impeded by unnecessary government regulations."
Minister of State Rob Moore, who joined Harper during the announcement, will head the 12-member commission, which involves other parliamentarians and business owners.
The commission will consult Canadians "to identify irritants that have a clear detrimental effect on growth, competitiveness and innovation" and find solutions to lighten the regulatory load.
It will also consider the business costs associated with federal regulatory requirements and seek to lessen the price of compliance.
"Canadian businesses spend billions of dollars each year adhering to regulations," Harper added. "We need to look at where and how we can reduce these costs and this red-tape burden, especially on small businesses."
But Liberals wasted no time panning the announcement, saying it leaves small business "no better off today than they were yesterday."
"This idea was announced in the last budget but they’ve taken almost a year to create a bureaucracy to tackle the growth of bureaucracy É it’s beyond belief," said Liberal small business critic Navdeep Bains in a statement. "They’ve been in power for five years, if this was so important why didn’t they act sooner?"
Bains credited the Paperwork Reduction Initiative started by the previous Liberal government for previous success reducing red tape.
"Before one more piece of red tape is cut, this new commission will take its time travelling the country at great expense but won’t report back till next fall," he said. "That’s almost another year before we can even start debating what regulations we should be cutting. The government clearly isn’t taking this issue seriously."
The commission will hold consultations during a series of round tables later this month.
Participation can also take place online: http://www.reduceredtape.gc.ca.
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