When it comes to dealing with city hall, there’s one B.C. municipality that’s tougher than all the rest, according to a new report.
That’s Port Moody, which ranks the lowest of 20 B.C. cities in the report released by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).
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The small business advocacy organization reached its conclusion by playing “secret shopper,” and posing as would-be entrepreneurs who wanted to start businesses in these cities to see what kind of “red tape” they faced in each.
“We reached out, asked some questions such as what are the zoning bylaws, what sort of permits would I need to have, what’s the delay to obtain those permits,” said CFIB analyst Muriel Protzer.
Cities were scored according to three factors: “access to information,” which looked at the user-friendliness of a municipality’s website; “quality of information,” which examined how municipalities responded to inquires; and “regulatory framework,” which evaluated factors such as wait times, policies, costs and resources.
Each municipality received a score out of 100.
The City of Port Moody scored 42, with particularly low marks on “quality of information” and “regulatory framework.”
The CFIB found that two emails sent to the city received no response, and little information was gleaned from a third.
In this case, the secret shopper was advised to come to city hall for more answers.
The CFIB also said that information on business licence or permit delay was “found to be unavailable online or through email contacts.”
READ MORE: Kelowna tops B.C. poll as place to open a small business
At the top end of the list?
Kelowna, with a score of 86 and high marks for its regulatory framework.
Port Moody Mayor Mike Clay said he’s available if entrepreneurs are having difficult starting a business in the city.
“My office is open, my phone number’s on the website,” he said.
“If anybody was having real problems, I think I’d be hearing about it and I’m not.”
The City of Port Moody said it is updating its website to make it more user-friendly.
The municipality admitted, however, that it doesn’t have as easy a time responding to inquiries as a bigger city like Kelowna.
READ MORE: B.C. gets an ‘A’ for red tape reduction from small business group
Several businesses in Port Moody said they weren’t unhappy with city hall — most had been in business for over a decade.
But just because Kelowna ranked so high, doesn’t mean entrepreneurs haven’t faced challenges there, too.
One business owner there said he’s experienced issues, such as with the B.C. Liquor Control Branch.
“Certainly all three levels of government need to be working more closely to ensure we’re more aligned in process,” said Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran.
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