CANADA – As a finale to Red Tape Awareness Week, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) announced that Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister and Minister of Finance Cameron Friesen are 2018 winners of the Golden Scissors Award.
The annual award recognizes leadership in cutting red tape in a meaningful way for small business.
Displaying their CFIB Golden Scissors Award are Jonathan Alward and Cameron Friesen, Manitoba’s provincial government.“The exceptional leadership being shown by Premier Pallister and Minister Friesen has put Manitoba on track to become a North American leader in cutting red tape for small businesses,” said Richard Truscott, Vice-President at CFIB. “They are red tape warriors who are truly deserving of this honour.”
Making good on their promise to make Manitoba “the most improved province for regulatory accountability by 2020”, the government’s Regulatory Accountability Act set up measurement, tracking, reporting and reduction goals.
This includes an aggressive 2-for-1 red tape reduction law until March 31, 2021, ensuring two existing regulations are removed for every new one added, and one-for-one reduction is continued thereafter.
To date, the government has identified over 906,000 different regulatory requirements and is actively streamlining and removing red tape.
In addition, through a second piece of legislation — Bill 24 the Red Tape Reduction and Government Efficiency Act — the government amended or repealed 15 pieces of legislation that eliminated a wide range of excessive and redundant regulations from permits needed for handling used oil to storage methods for hog farmers.
A Red Tape Reduction Task Force, which included business and non-profit leaders, was also created to identify additional red tape headaches weighing down Manitobans.
“It’s remarkable progress. In 2016, Manitoba was at the bottom of CFIB’s annual Red Tape Report Card with an “F” grade and had no clear plan to eliminate unnecessary, redundant or overly burdensome regulations,” said Laura Jones, Executive Vice-President at CFIB. “This turnaround is clear evidence with the right leadership and policy choices, all jurisdictions are capable of tackling red tape.”
In addition to the winners, CFIB announced three Honourable Mentions:
- Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of National Revenue, Government of Canada, for introducing new rules which allow small business owners to distribute T4s electronically to their employees;
- The Business Navigation Service Team, Nova Scotia Office of Regulatory Affairs and Service Effectiveness, for pioneering an innovative way to help small businesses comply with their regulatory requirements; and
- Dominique Vien, Quebec’s Minister of Labour, for loosening an inflexible rule around voluntary construction work.
For more details about the Honourable Mentions’ and for a full list of 2018 finalists visit CFIB’s Golden Scissors’ Award page.
