Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope I live to be 99 years old.
Within the next 30 days, the Northwest Territories takes on the responsibility for land and resource management. We have never had a better opportunity or a greater need to cut the amount of red tape related to doing business in the North.
Every year the Canadian Federation of Independent Business grades provinces and territories on their efforts to reduce red tape through political leadership, public measurement and constraints on regulators, legislative commitment, and progress on action to reduce regulatory burdens. The Northwest Territories, unfortunately, was on the bottom of the list. We even dropped a grade from when the federation conducted its evaluation last year.
Places that scored the lowest lacked leadership on action to create a better environment for doing business in their environment or territory and forward momentum on policy initiatives aimed at decreasing the amount of permitting, licensing, taxes, bylaws, registrations, regulations, penalties and wait times for private enterprise.
BC scored the highest, surpassing the federal government and all other jurisdictions for its proactive approach for lifting the regulatory load and limiting in the future. The province has successfully reduced its regulatory requirement for business by 42 percent since 2001. Any proposed new regulation must be evaluated through a small business lens.
Other jurisdictions that earned top marks demonstrated commitment to regulatory accountability and public reporting, engaging all departments and agencies in finding ways to reduce red tape, implementing a one-window approach and on-line service delivery and moving forward on initiatives to streamline systems and increase efficiencies.
Failing grades should be taken as a warning. As the government prepares to take on responsibility for our land and resources, the time has never been better to improve our score. Successful regulatory reform is about public accountability. It needs our commitment, as legislators, to make the Northwest Territories a better place to live and do business.
I am very confident going forward with our new proposed, assumed responsibilities that this score will be much better the next time it’s reported. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
