01/24/2012

Government group hopes to cut red tape for Canadian businesses

OTTAWA, Ont. -- The Red Tape Commission, a government group working to cut red tape for businesses, has issued its final report: "Cutting Red Tape; Freeing Business to Grow."

The Commission is made up of a dozen MPs and business stakeholders, including Denis Prud'homme, former owner of Prud'homme Trucking and past president of the Saskatchewan Trucking Association.

The report reviews the burden federal regulations place of Canadian businesses and highlights areas for potential reform.

In 2011, the Canadian Trucking Alliance, along with its members, appeared before the Commission to recommend areas where reducing red tape can improve business efficiency and job growth.

Key recommendations in report pertaining to trucking, include:

- Eliminating administrative burden on small businesses. The report suggests Transport Canada implement plans to exempt small businesses that use smaller trucks locally from the administrative requirements in relation to Hours-of-Service (including the maintenance of logbooks).

- Increasing the uniformity in the enforcement of the transport of dangerous goods regulatory regime and reduce administrative burden. The report would have Transport Canada accelerate initiatives designed to effect improvement in the consistency of application of program delivery and their communication to regulated parties.

- Providing a predictable and uniform business environment across Canada for the trucking industry and to reduce current compliance burden and associated costs. The report recommends Transport Canada engage its provincial and territorial counterparts with concrete proposals to advance the harmonization of regulations that pertain to the National Safety Code (including Hours-of-Service). The report suggests the department should aim to eliminate unnecessary compliance burden on inter-provincial truck commerce stemming from differences in regulatory requirements across jurisdictions.

- Providing businesses with greater certainty and predictability through reasonable timelines and service standards. The Commission recommends Transport Canada streamline its processing of exemptions under the Motor Vehicle Transport Act.

Additionally, the Commission echoed many of the initiatives already announced by the federal government in the recent Border Action Plan, including harmonizing "trusted trader" programs with the US, and reducing border wait times by improving programs such as Free and Secure Trade (FAST).

"CTA looks forward to discussing with Transport Canada and other government departments regarding the implications of the Red Tape Commission's final recommendations on the trucking industry," CTA officials said in a release.