Changes Will Help Small Businesses and Cut Unnecessary Red Tape
Ontario has passed legislation to make it easier for businesses to grow and create more jobs.
The Cutting Unnecessary Red Tape Act, 2017 will reduce regulatory burdens and practices that cost businesses time and money, while protecting environmental and health standards and ensuring worker safety.
The changes to cut red tape and help small businesses grow include:
- 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, while protecting environmental, health and worker safety standards.
- 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.
- International or national standards alignment: Increasing harmonization with other jurisdictions and adopting international or national standards, where appropriate, when developing or reviewing regulations.
- Rewarding good actors: Recognizing businesses with good compliance records and lowering their costs by reducing requirements, without compromising the environment health and safety, and other protections.
- Electronic transmission guarantee: Providing businesses the option to electronically submit any required documentation to the Government of Ontario instead of more costly paper submissions.
Cutting unnecessary red tape is part of our plan to create jobs, grow our economy and help people in their everyday lives.
Quick Facts
- Since 2011, burden reduction initiatives have saved Ontario businesses a total of $152 million and 6.5 million hours, surpassing the province’s goal to save businesses $100 million by the end of 2017. Ontario’s 2017 Burden Reduction Report features 20 government initiatives, including eight new projects that resulted in $22.5 million in cost savings for businesses, and an additional $6.8 million saved through six previously announced projects (or multi-year initiatives) with ongoing impacts.
- The Cutting Unnecessary Red Tape Act, 2017 supports 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.
- The Burden Reduction Act, 2017 amended more than 50 statutes from 11 different ministries to reduce regulatory burdens and practices that cost businesses time and money, while protecting environmental and health standards and enhancing worker safety. The amendments will provide Ontario businesses up to $31 million in savings every year.
- Ontario’s Red Tape Challenge is an innovative online platform to help identify and eliminate regulatory duplication, lessen compliance burdens, shorten response times and make it easier for businesses and citizens to interact with government. Since 2016, five sector consultations have been completed and the government is acting on 171 recommendations to reduce burdens for businesses.
Background Information
Additional Resources
Quotes
“Cutting red tape, while maintaining the highest safety and environmental protections, is crucial to ensuring that our province’s business climate stays strong. This legislation is the product of collaboration across government and businesses to cut red tape. It builds upon the success of the Burden Reduction Act, 2017 and we look forward to continuing to foster a dynamic and innovative business environment by reducing unnecessary red tape for businesses in the province.”
“These changes will make strides to reduce input costs and provide modernized regulatory provisions which support prosperity for businesses of all sizes. Building on the success of the Red Tape Challenge, this legislation demonstrates a positive commitment to ensure the ongoing competitiveness of businesses in our province. To remain competitive, the Government of Ontario must continue to update and modernize business regulations which promote business success and growth, develop the skills of our workforce, and incentivize innovation.””
Richard Koroscil
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