4th annual Red Tape Awareness week (Canada)

Among sub-national governments giving priority to supporting business, British Columbia (BC) has a long-standing excellent performance, as illustrated recently by two events:

• the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) organises every year a Red Tape Awareness week (semaine de sensibilisation à la paperasserie), which took place this year from 21 to 25 January 2013. The CFIB webpage lists a few other successful initiatives, including international comparisons and "Real Examples of Ridiculous Government Rules."
• as reported on 24 January by the Vancouver Sun, BC has the highest ranking in Canada for cutting red tape. Authorities have a legal requirement to publish annual reports about regulatory reform. Official figures show "a reduction of regulatory requirements by more than 42 per cent since 2001 - that's more than 155,000 off the books. We've also committed to a net-zero increase in regulatory requirements through to 2015". See also, in that same article, the New West Partnership commercial vehicle website launched in June 2012 by three provinces (BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan), offering a single website for the trucking industry to access information on permits, routes and other commercial vehicle information.