SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, June 12, 2006 — The Honourable Maxime Bernier, the Federal Minister of Industry, today welcomed the launch of BizPaL in Saskatoon. BizPaL is an innovative project designed to help Canadian businesses save time when accessing licensing and permit information from multiple levels of government. This unique partnership between federal, provincial, territorial, regional and municipal governments provides entrepreneurs and business people in Saskatoon with simplified access to the information they need to launch or grow their businesses.
"Canada's new government is proud to be a partner in the new BizPaL initiative — a service that will speed up the licensing and permit processes for businesses and entrepreneurs," said Minister Bernier. "By working with the Province of Saskatchewan and the City of Saskatoon, we are launching a very useful technological initiative that will simplify government paperwork processes."
"BizPaL is an important part of our new provincial regulatory and service enhancement initiative to make it easier for entrepreneurs to start and expand their business in Saskatchewan," said Eric Cline, Saskatchewan Minister of Industry and Resources. "Over the next year, we will continue to partner with municipalities to expand the BizPaL service to more of the province."
"We are excited to be able to offer BizPaL to the business people in Saskatoon," said Donald Atchison, Mayor of the City of Saskatoon. "This innovation reinforces the city's philosophy that 'we're open for business.' Customer service is so important to us, and BizPaL is just another example of cutting through the red tape."
"Streamlining permits and licences for entrepreneurs will reduce the complexity of the approval process and save entrepreneurs valuable time and money," said Marilyn Braun-Pollon, Saskatchewan Director, Canadian Federation of Independent Business. "It is our hope that other Saskatchewan municipalities will soon adopt BizPaL."
Business owners and entrepreneurs can access the service by visiting http://www.bizpal.gov.sk.ca and http://www.saskatoon.ca. Based on the responses to a number of interactive questions on the nature and location of the business, the online service generates a customized list of required government permits and licences. The list includes basic information about the permits and licences, the order in which they should be obtained, contact information and, in some cases, links to begin the application process.
The BizPaL system in Saskatoon was developed with Industry Canada support, in collaboration with the City of Saskatoon and the Province of Saskatchewan. The province is looking forward to expanding BizPaL to Regina, Moose Jaw and other Saskatchewan municipalities over the next year. To date, BizPaL has been launched in the Yukon Territory with the City of Whitehorse; in British Columbia with the City of Kamloops; and in Ontario with the Regional Municipality of Halton.
Please visit http://www.bizpal.ca for additional project history and information as well as to access the websites of participating partners.
For more information, please contact:
Isabelle Fontaine
Office of the Honourable Maxime Bernier
Minister of Industry
(613) 995-9001
Joanne Johnson
Public Affairs
Saskatchewan Industry and Resources
(306) 787-1691
Fax: (306) 787-8447
Shari Baraniuk
Manager, Systems and Information Management
Community Services Department
City of Saskatoon
(306) 975-3319
shari.baraniuk@saskatoon.ca
Media Relations
Industry Canada
(613) 943-2502
Marilyn Braun-Pollon
Director, Provincial Affairs
Canadian Federation of Independent
Business, Saskatchewan
(306) 757-0000
Fax: (306) 359-7623
Backgrounder
BizPaL Simplifies Permits and Licences for Canadian Businesses
BizPaL, an online project, benefits Canadian businesses by helping them identify which permits and licences are required and how they can be obtained. Entrepreneurs simply answer a series of questions on the type of business they want to start or operate, and the activities they plan to undertake. BizPaL then automatically generates a list of all required permits and licences from three levels of government, along with basic information on each, and links to government sites where the entrepreneur can learn more and, in some cases, apply online.
BizPaL also benefits governments by making it easier to provide accurate information on permits and licences to business. Although the service is offered online, it can also be used through other service channels (i.e. telephone and in-person centres) to improve services to clients.
To date, BizPaL has been launched in: British Columbia and the City of Kamloops; Ontario and the Regional Municipality of Halton with the Town of Halton Hills and the Town of Milton; and Yukon with the municipalities of Carmacks, Dawson City, Faro, Haines Junction, Mayo, Teslin, Watson Lake and Whitehorse.
The development of the BizPaL project involved consultations with stakeholders in business and government, and grew out of a working group of representatives from federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments across Canada.
Budget 2006 provides $6 million over two years to accelerate expansion of the BizPaL project.
