Ontario Helping Businesses Save Time and Money

red tape challenge

Province to Introduce Measures to Help Small Businesses and New Legislation to Cut Unnecessary Red Tape

Ontario is working to make it easier for businesses to grow and create more jobs.

Proposed measures to help small businesses grow and cut red tape, to be introduced this fall, include:

  1. Reducing regulatory costs: Requiring all ministries to offset every dollar of new administrative costs to business, by removing $1.25 of old and unnecessary costs.
  2. Streamlining compliance for small business: Ensuring that undue burdens aren’t placed on small businesses when new or amended regulations are introduced, while maintaining robust environmental, health and safety requirements and other public interest protections.
  3. International or national standards alignment: Increasing harmonization with other jurisdictions and adopting international or national standards, where appropriate, when developing or reviewing regulations.
  4. Rewarding good actors: Recognizing businesses that have a good compliance record and lowering their costs by reducing the requirements, such as the number of inspections, without compromising the environment health and safety, and other protections.
  5. Electronic transmission guarantee: Providing businesses the option to electronically submit any required documentation to the Government of Ontario instead of more costly paper submissions.
  6. Government procurement: Introducing a preferred procurement policy for small businesses that would help provide better access to government contracts.
  7. One-window service: Developing a new program that would help small businesses access support, information and resources by phone, online and in person.
  8. Reducing fees and other costs: Reviewing licence and registration fees paid with a goal of providing relief to small- and medium-sized businesses.

These proposed changes support Ontario’s five-year, $650-million Business Growth Initiative that is helping to grow the economy and create jobs by promoting an innovation-based economy, helping small companies scale-up and modernizing regulations for businesses.

Supporting businesses is part of Ontario’s plan to create jobs, grow our economy and help people in their everyday lives.

Quick Facts

  • Ontario is committed to reducing business costs and burdens while maintaining a competitive tax environment. The government’s recent business tax reforms have cut taxes and lowered compliance costs to encourage investment and job creation.
  • Ontario has introduced legislation that would, if passed, lower electricity bills by 25 per cent on average, with rates being held to inflation for four years. The proposed Fair Hydro Act, 2017, would result in lower electricity bills for all residential consumers and as many as half a million small businesses and farms, starting this summer.
  • Ontario’s 2016 Burden Reduction Report highlighted significant progress, featuring 26 initiatives across government and identified that the government’s burden reduction efforts have saved businesses a total of $122 million since 2011, surpassing the province’s goal to save businesses $100 million by 2017.
  • The Red Tape Challenge is part of Ontario’s five-year Business Growth Initiative.
  • Ontario will introduce legislation to implement recommendations from the Business Law Advisory Council to update and reform Ontario’s corporate and commercial law statutes, as well as reforms to reduce burden for not-for-profit corporations.

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