CFIB gives Ontario a B+ in Red Tape Report Card

Ontario achieves its best placement in report card’s history

Toronto, February 1, 2023 – Ontario scored a solid B+ (8.5/10), resulting in a tie for second place with British Columbia in CFIB’s 2023 Red Tape Report Card  released today as part of its 14th annual Red Tape Awareness Week™. The second-place ranking marks the highest placement for the province in the report card’s 13-edition history. 

“We commend the Ontario government for consistently raising the bar on red tape reduction since 2018,” said Julie Kwiecinski, CFIB director of provincial affairs, Ontario. “They recently reinforced their commitment to this important file by creating a new, full Ministry that is solely responsible for cross-government red tape reduction. The new Minister, the Hon. Parm Gill, hit the ground running, immediately acting to improve visibility and accessibility to the red tape portal, where people and businesses can go to share their red tape frustrations.”

CFIB’s 2023 Red Tape Report Card grades the federal government and each province in three key areas: regulatory accountability (40%), regulatory burden (40%), and “political priority” (20%).

Ontario and Alberta topped the provinces on political priority, both scoring an A (9.5/10). This high grade acknowledges, for example, that red tape reduction is a clear priority championed by Premier Ford and his Cabinet, and that the province has a “Red Tape Reduction” Minister.

The province received a B (7.8/10) for Regulatory Burden, scoring full points for the new red tape feedback mechanism on the Government of Ontario home page and for continuing to introduce two burden reduction bills every year. To improve in this area, CFIB recommends that the Ontario government continue to reduce its total number of regulatory restrictions and knock down barriers to internal trade (e.g., the restriction on direct-to-consumer shipment of alcohol products from other provinces and territories to Ontario, and labour mobility rules that could be addressed by mutually recognizing certifications and licences from other provinces).

Ontario continued its strength in Regulatory Accountability with an A- (8.8/10), scoring full points for comprehensive measure of the regulatory burden, public reporting of the regulatory burden, and regulatory budget. To take the next step, CFIB recommends that the Ontario government allow for greater accessibility to its regulatory documents by publishing them in a machine-readable format. This would improve transparency by allowing external access to raw government data, so outside parties could, for example, verify and assess the government’s regulatory burden counts.

“It’s important for the Ontario government to stay focused on decreasing unnecessary paperwork and fixing burdensome rules that stand in the way of doing business,” said Riley Locke, CFIB policy analyst, Ontario. “In the preliminary results of our January 2023 survey, 81% of Ontario small business owners said that governments should make reducing red tape a priority heading into the new year.”

For media inquiries or interviews, please contact:
Dariya Baiguzhiyeva, CFIB
647-464-2814
public.affairs@cfib.ca 

About CFIB
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada’s largest association of small- and medium-sized businesses with 95,000 members across every industry and region, including 38,000 in Ontario. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners’ chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca.