Business input needed to reduce regulatory burdens

TRURO – Business has a key role to play in working with provincial officials to reduce regulatory burdens directly impacting economic growth.

The Truro & Colchester Chamber of Commerce recently hosted a roundtable meeting providing its members with an opportunity to share their personal regulatory burden experiences directly with officials working to reduce the impact of “red tape” across government departments.

“Red tape has a financial cost and places demands on human resources,” said Andrew Lake, president of the Truro & Colchester Chamber of Commerce. “As businesses navigate red tape it is distracting them from growing by taking people away from focusing on what they know best, the operation of their business.”

Leanne Hachey, executive director, stakeholder relations for the Office of Regulatory Affairs and Service Effectiveness, and Tatiana Morren Fraser, director, regulatory modernization, listened to concerns voiced by local business people during the hour and a half-long conversation.

Some of the topics discussed related to frustration over lack of co-ordination and communication between government departments, downloading of provincial services onto business, confusion caused by duplication between municipal and provincial regulations requiring different standards and provincial procurement practices.

“In lots of ways things are cumbersome and not streamlined. I would suggest that a number of items that were brought forward are common themes that the Office is familiar with and have heard before,” said Lake. “In general, the businesses represented there had some micro issues but collectively issues fell under broad areas such as fire codes, inefficiencies of procurement practices and overall frustration with service offered by some government departments.”

Hachey provided an overview of the work the Office has achieved since it was established about 18 months ago, along with identifying several future priorities such as financial measurement of regulatory burdens, service improvement, Worker’s Compensation improvements aligning practices across Atlantic Canada and more.

The Chamber is continuing to work with the Office to improve the business climate in this region.

For more information contact the Chamber at 902-895-6328.