Mobile business licence will cut red tape for tradespeople

Small business month is off to a promising start with two initiatives aimed at reducing red tape, which has repeatedly been identified as the second-highest concern of business owners, after taxes.
On Tuesday, six municipalities in the Lower Mainland announced a mobile business licence. This means that a plumber from Burnaby, for example, who also works in Vancouver, Surrey, New Westminster, Delta and Richmond, can now apply for one licence instead of six. It will apply to a number of trades.
Business owners who work in multiple municipalities have been clamouring for this change. Response in municipalities where it has already been introduced – including the Capital Regional District and the Okanagan-Similkameen – has been overwhelmingly positive.
When asked about the CRD program, one painting contractor who works in nine of the municipalities said he “couldn’t have asked for anything better.” The program has saved him “the better part of a week.” He described the old system as “ridiculous” and “not cost effective.”
Sixty-seven per cent of businesses in the CRD said the mobile licence had a positive impact, 33 per cent saw it as neutral. None reported that it had a negative impact. Evidence shows it is a win for government, too, with overall revenue and compliance increasing.
The second initiative was kicked off last week with a Twitter town hall. Small Business Minister Naomi Yamamoto is working with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business to identify five red tape-cutting opportunities this fall.
If you have ideas, please pass them along. It can be as simple as a form that is difficult to fill in – these forms can feel like death by a thousand paper cuts. I recently filled in one that asked for the month, date, and year that I moved to British Columbia as well as my past three addresses.
I moved to B.C. over 15 years ago! While I can recall the month and year, the exact date? My last three addresses – is that really necessary? Examples may involve a process or set or regulations. Last fall, CFIB alerted the government to problems with procurement and the government is working to make things easier. Red tape may also involve anything from unfriendly auditors to PST rules written in Greek – no offence to my Greek friends.
Reducing red tape may not make for sexy government announcements, but it is critical to the future prosperity of B.C. We have to free people from dealing with unnecessary rules and poor government service to focus on what’s important: growing businesses, serving customers, training staff, complying with critical health and safety regulations, and maybe, just maybe, getting home a little earlier for dinner.
The municipal and provincial governments who are part of the solution deserve a big thank you! Keep up the good work.
Laura Jones is executive vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. She can be reached at laura.jones@cfib.ca.

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