As president Donald J. Trump was telling business leaders from across the United States in the White House he’s going to remove redundant regulations to make doing business easier, the Manitoba government marked the beginning of Red Tape Awareness Week by making a commitment to introduce new legislation that would reduce the burden of regulatory requirements, according to deputy premier Heather Stefanson.

On Twitter, Shannon Martin, MLA @MartinforMorris who is chairing the red tape committee tweeted thanking all 12 agricultural groups that took time to participate at a red tape meeting at the recent Ag Days in Brandon. “I appreciate your enthusiasm!”

My question to Shannon was and is will you actually do away with regulations and legislation, the reason for your committee?

“Yes, the whole point is to clarify, simplify, and eliminate,” he said.

My first reaction is great, and my second reaction, is more reserved. For years, while introducing and passing new legislation and enacting new regulations was always on the back of the last legislation and regulations. Seldom, if ever do governments repeal previous bad or out-dated legislation. Therefore, the pile grows and inherently someone looks underneath the pile when the other side wants to pass new laws to negate the last one, and says ah ha, can’t do it because it says so under the pile.

Silly you may ask or say, yes it is. So, when MLA Shannon Martin says clarify, simplify, and eliminate, that is what people are counting Brian Pallister will do.

A business quote says, “U.S. businesses waste $40 billion a year on business meetings run poorly. One must assume that poor legislations and bad regulations often implemented against the will of those who must abide by them, that dollar value is much higher.

It isn’t only the cost of those regulations and how they affect doing business, but take for example farming, and in particular the hog industry, it downright stops progress, and in many cases stops businesses from starting.

Ken Foster who farms with his two sons at Arborg, MB says, “The guy down on the farm needs to make a buck and I haven’t seen a lot of that, with all the rules that are imposed.”

Good point Ken, a past president of the Manitoba Hog Marketing Board. When the former NDP government started to mess with hog production in Manitoba, leading to a 100 per cent moratorium on hog expansion, it literally shut down expansion, and damaged the industry once it started to turn around financially because people couldn’t expand.

Then came the first set of regulations to even begin to think of building a new barn, and once they eased on that one, they added a bunch more making that process take from a year to 18 months. Here’s hoping the Manitoba government now in power will take their process to clarify, simplify, and eliminate seriously.

In making her announcement, deputy premier Stefanson says the government is committed to reducing unnecessary barriers for businesses, local governments, non-profit organizations and all Manitobans.

“Proclaiming Red Tape Awareness Week is evidence of our recognition of the burdens posed by the status quo,” she said. “We want to make sure we remove unnecessary administrative burdens so Manitobans can access the services they need in order to make important contributions to their businesses and communities without the frustration of long waits or confusing instructions.”

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has advocated for many years that provinces adopt policies that reduce red tape for small businesses.

Laura Jones, executive vice-president and chief strategic officer, CFIB says it’s great to see the Manitoba government make this landmark announcement and become the first province to commit to legislate a one-for-one law.

“There is nothing better than seeing a province go from a laggard to a leader on reducing red tape. Manitoba is now the province to watch on regulatory accountability.”

The proposed legislation will allow government to better track regulatory requirements, redesign approval and review processes to provide additional transparency and require more detailed analysis before regulations are put in place.

Earlier CFIB issued a red tape challenge to provincial and territorial governments to follow the example set federally and legislate a one-for-one law. “Even more impressive is the government’s bold commitment to introduce a stricter version of the rule – a two-for-one policy, which will be implemented for the next four years,” said Jones. “This will certainly put Manitoba way ahead of the pack in showing leadership on regulatory reform.” •

— By Harry Siemens