The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is commending the B.C. government for extending its commitment to no net increases in regulations to 2015 and to passing legislation requiring an annual report on regulation as part of making 2011 Year of the Entrepreneur.
Laura Jones, the CFIB’s senior vice-president, research, economics and Western Canada, highlighted the annual report as the key gain.
“For us, that’s the big-ticket item,” she said. “It’s not going to radically change anything in the short term, but what it does is it makes it much harder for any future government, whether that be a Liberal or an NDP government, to backtrack on the good work that’s been done over the past 10 years in British Columbia to get rid of dumb rules that get in the way of doing business.”
She called red tape, “a migraine” and “a nightmare” for small business.
“It’s a huge tax on creativity, it’s a huge tax on family time, it’s a huge stress, it’s a huge frustration,” she said.
Jones also commended the government for extending its commitment to net increases in regulation for three additional years.
“It forces regulators to make choices: if this [regulation] is important, which one has to go? And because there are only 24 hours in a day and seven days in a week for business owners, that’s critical; you can’t just keep piling this stuff on.”
Jenny Wagler
Twitter: JennyWagler_BIV