Canada's worst red tape offenders named: Temporary Foreign Worker Program, Multi-Material British Columbia joint winners of first annual Paperweight Award

From foreign worker runaround to recycling cash grab, red tape nightmares plague small business

TORONTO, Jan. 31, 2014 /CNW/ - This year's first Paperweight Award goes to two programs that run neck-and-neck in making life even harder for small businesses through ridiculous rules and red tape: The federal Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) and Multi-Material British Columbia (MMBC). As its fifth annual Red Tape Awareness Week^TM comes to a close today, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) "recognizes" these two paperweight champs for imposing an unnecessary red tape burden on small business.

"Red tape impacts Canadian small businesses to the tune of $31 billion a year, but it's not one big problem. It's thousands of smaller problems, spread out over every jurisdiction," said Laura Jones, executive vice-president at CFIB. "The Paperweight Award gives us a chance to highlight some of the more egregious examples, and frankly, to point some fingers. Who exactly is weighing down small business? This year's winners are certainly not lightening the load."

The TFWP, a program jointly administered by two federal government departments that is maddening at the best of times, has added new requirements, fees and longer wait times. These changes were a knee-jerk reaction to media stories of misuse of the program by a few big businesses and banks, but threaten to drive some small enterprises, that rely on the program and are using it appropriately, out of business.

MMBC, a not-for-profit body that reports to the British Columbia government, will soon become a recurring red tape nightmare for businesses in that province. As of this May, businesses in B.C. will have to weigh, measure and report the volume of all their packaging to MMBC. For their trouble, they will get a bill to pay for disposal. Entrepreneurs are more than a little nervous about giving this kind of blank cheque to an arms-length government body with little in the way of accountability. Similarly heavy-handed "green" initiatives are already making small business owners see red in Ontario, and more are popping up across the country.

In addition to the winners, three Dishonourable Mentions for this year's Paperweight Award go to:

• Saskatchewan Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety – For making it mandatory to get a permit to swap statutory holidays for other days off work. This unnecessary piece of red tape has restricted Saskatchewan employers (and, in turn, their employees), from having more flexibility in the workplace.
  
  
• Ontario Ministry of Labour – As of 2013, it is mandatory for directors, owners and independent contractors in the construction industry (including one-person firms) to buy Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) coverage and pay premiums on their personal income. This has cost the smallest of businesses thousands of extra dollars for coverage that many of them already had.
  
  
• Quebec Ministry of Labour – Provincial legislation from the 1930s still governs every aspect of the hairdressing industry in the Outaouais region. Meant to protect hairdressers, the only real impact of the regulations is that it is impossible to get a haircut in the region on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday evening.

Canadians are encouraged to show their support for CFIB's Red Tape Revolution by signing the on-line petition (www.cfib.ca/rtaw) that will be delivered to governments.

CFIB is Canada's largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 109,000 members across every sector and region.

SOURCE: Canadian Federation of Independent Business

For more information, please call Gisele Lumsden at 416-222-8022 or by email at [email protected]