REGINA, Saskatchewan, May 22, 2007 — The Honourable Gerry Ritz, Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism), on behalf of the Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Industry, together with the Honourable Eric Cline, Minister of Saskatchewan Industry and Resources, and Pat Fiacco, Mayor of Regina, today welcomed the launch of BizPaL in the City of Regina. Secretary of State Ritz and Minister Cline also signed a five-year multi-jurisdictional memorandum of understanding to formally acknowledge a shared commitment to the BizPaL initiative.
"BizPaL will make it easier for people in Saskatchewan to get the licences and permits they need to start up and grow their business," said Secretary of State Ritz. "Canada's New Government is working hard with provincial and municipal governments to provide the best possible service for small business."
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 among federal, provincial, territorial, regional and local governments provides entrepreneurs and business people with simplified access to the information they need to launch or grow their businesses.
"BizPaL greatly simplifies how businesses can find detailed and customized information about the permits and licences they need in participating Saskatchewan jurisdictions," Industry and Resources Minister Eric Cline said. "We will continue to improve government services through our regulatory and service enhancement initiative in order to make our province attractive to entrepreneurs."
"BizPaL will help our city's ongoing efforts to boost efficiency and enhance customer service," said Mayor Pat Fiacco. "Customer feedback has told us there is an opportunity to improve the provision of information for business owners and operators in Regina. BizPaL is just one way of improving our delivery of services and information to allow businesses to set up shop in our great city."
"We welcome the addition of the City of Regina to the growing list of Saskatchewan communities offering the BizPaL service," said Marilyn Braun-Pollon, Saskatchewan Director, Canadian Federation of Independent Business. "Many of the province's cities are now served by BizPaL, and we congratulate Regina and other Saskatchewan municipalities for working together with the province and the federal government to streamline and simplify business permits and licences, saving business owners valuable time and money."
The BizPaL system in the City of Regina was developed with Industry Canada support, in collaboration with the Province of Saskatchewan.
Area business owners and entrepreneurs can access the service by visiting http://www.bizpal.gov.sk.ca and http://www.regina.ca/bizpal. The province is looking forward to expanding BizPaL to other areas of Saskatchewan over the next year.
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:
Todd MacKay
Office of the Honourable Gerry Ritz
Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism)
Tel.: 613-943-6183
Isabelle Fontaine
Office of the Honourable Maxime Bernier
Minister of Industry
Tel.: 613-995-9001
Media Relations
Industry Canada
Tel.: 613-943-2502
Gillian (Jill) Hyndman
Communications Division
City of Regina
Tel.: 306-777-7498
Bob Ellis
Director, Public Affairs
Saskatchewan Industry and Resources
Tel.: 306-787-1691
Fax: 306-787-8447
Joanne Johnson
Public Affairs
Saskatchewan Industry and Resources
Tel.: 306-787-7967
Backgrounder
BizPaL Simplifies Permits and Licences for Canadian Businesses
BizPaL is an online service that benefits Canadian businesses by helping them identify which permits and licences are required and how to obtain them. 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 all 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 seven provinces and territories and over 30 municipalities across Canada (refer to http://www.bizpaL.ca for a complete list of participating jurisdictions). Within the province of Saskatchewan, Regina joins a growing list of participating cities including; Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Weyburn, Carlyle, Swift Current, Prince Albert, Yorkton, Melville, Broadview, Canora, Churchbridge, Grenfel, Kamsack, Kipling, Langenburg, Whitewood and Wolsley.
The Government of Saskatchewan will sign a multi-jurisdictional memorandum of understanding (MOU) that includes the Government of Canada and other participating provinces and territories. This MOU marks a critical milestone as it formally acknowledges a shared vision and investment in the BizPaL initiative to better serve business.
The development of the BizPaL initiative involved consultations with stakeholders in business and government. It grew out of a working group of representatives from federal departments, provincial and territorial governments, and municipal governments across Canada.
BizPaL was a commitment of Canada's New Government in Budget 2006. The government is getting things done for businesses and taxpayers by working with provincial, territorial and local governments to launch the BizPaL program. In November 2006, Canada's New Government released its long-term economic plan, Advantage Canada, in which it identified ways to give Canada an entrepreneurial advantage and reduce paperwork burden by 20 percent. Forging ahead, Budget 2007 committed to achieving this target by November 2008.
