The government says it has been reducing red tape since 2018
The Ontario government has introduced legislation to increase the province’s competitiveness, strengthen supply chains, and make it easier to interact with services.
The government says that Less Red Tape, Stronger Ontario Act (Bill 46) builds on its track record of reducing red tape. A statement says the province has saved businesses, not-for-profit organizations, municipalities, universities and colleges, school boards, and hospitals $576 million in net annual regulatory compliance costs since 2018.
The Ministry of Red Tape Reduction stated that Ontario has been putting a prime on removing bureaucracies since 2018, reducing the regulatory burden on individuals and businesses by at least 6.5 percent. Since then, the province says it has saved businesses $576 million in annual compliance costs by removing licence plate renewal fees, extending liquor licences to patio spaces, and updating other regulations to make it easier to comply with rules.
The new Red Tape Reduction Package includes 28 initiatives that would help develop a secure food supply chain from farm to fork, supporting Ontario’s farmers, food processors, and the overall agri-business sector – a move welcomed by Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Lisa Thompson.
“Ontario’s agri-food sector has and always will be a cornerstone of the provincial economy and we need to invest in the supply chain, enable innovation and research, and grow the labour force,” Thompson said. “The introduction of this fall’s Red Tape Reduction Package includes concrete actions that will benefit farmers, processors and agri-businesses while outlining our government’s vision and goals for the province’s agri-food sector through the Grow Ontario Strategy.”
In particular, the package will increase the production and consumption of food grown in the province by adopting new and innovative technologies, remove legislative barriers to support more investment in clean and emission-reducing technologies, provide more data and tools to municipalities to improve supply chain efficiency, and increase court capacity and efficiency to improve service.
It will also include modernizing the Veterinarians Act to identify better opportunities for streamlined requirements to reduce the compliance burden for vets and practice owners.
According to the ministry, Ontario has taken more than 400 actions to reduce burdens without compromising service levels, health, safety or the environment. The bill is the 10th Red Tape Reduction package and the 9th Red Tape Reduction bill that the government has introduced since 2018.
For Minister of Red Tape Reduction Parm Gill, the bill is critical to post-pandemic recovery and economic growth.
“Our government is focused on making Ontario better for people and businesses by removing unnecessary, redundant, and outdated regulations that hold us back. With this fall’s Red Tape Reduction Package, we are taking actions to enable people to thrive and businesses to prosper,” Gill said. “We’ve come a long way, but there’s more work to be done.”
