YORKTON, Saskatchewan, May 8, 2007 -- The Honourable Gerry Ritz, Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism), on behalf of the Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Industry, today announced the launch of BizPaL in the city of Yorkton on behalf of 11 area cities and towns in Saskatchewan.
"Through BizPaL, small business can invest more time and energy creating new opportunities and spend less time and energy on paperwork," said Secretary of State Ritz. "Canada's New Government is committed to working with our provincial and municipal partners to give small business the tools they need to grow."
BizPaL is an innovative project designed to help Canadian businesses save time when accessing licensing and permit information from multiple levels of government. The online service generates a customized list of required government permits and licences. The list includes basic information about permits and licences from all levels of government.
"Expanding BizPaL throughout the province fits with our economic action plan and our regulatory and service enhancement initiative both designed to enhance and promote our competitive advantages and make Saskatchewan an attractive place to invest, work and live," said Saskatchewan Industry and Resources Minister Eric Cline. "BizPaL makes it easier for small and medium-sized businesses looking to invest in our province to comply with the regulations required by all three levels of government."
"BizPaL will make our city services more accessible and attractive to business people interested in investing here or residents wishing to locate here," Mayor Wyatt said. "It will make us competitive, leading edge and further cement Yorkton's image as 'where good things happen."
"BizPaL is an exciting innovation for the City of Melville to assist people who want to establish a business in our city," said Mayor Walter Streelasky. "The BizPaL site will provide business people with quick answers to questions on municipal, provincial and federal requirements for setting up a business in Melville. This on-line access will open 'endless opportunities' to entrepreneurs who wish to locate here."
"We congratulate the cities of Yorkton and Melville and the many towns from the region on their launch of the BizPaL service and are pleased that they have joined the growing number of Saskatchewan municipalities offering the service," said Marilyn Braun-Pollon, Saskatchewan Director, Canadian Federation of Independent Business. "We are encouraged to see the province and Saskatchewan municipalities working together with the federal government to streamline and simplify business permits and licences, saving business owners valuable time and money."
BizPaL is a unique partnership between federal, provincial, territorial, regional and local governments that provides entrepreneurs and business people with simplified access to the information they need to launch or grow their businesses. The BizPaL service was developed and launched in the cities and towns of this area with Industry Canada support, in collaboration with the Province of Saskatchewan.
Through the support and effort of the areas' Regional Economic Development Authorities (REDA), BizPaL is being launched simultaneously by a total of 11 area towns and cities including: Good Spirit REDA member communities of Canora and Yorkton; Mainline REDA member communities of Broadview, Grenfell, Kipling, Whitewood and Wolseley; South Parkland member community Melville; and, Yellowhead REDA member communities of Churchbridge, Langenburg, and Kamsack.
Area business owners and entrepreneurs can access the service by visiting http://www.bizpal.gov.sk.ca and http://www.yorkton.ca/business/bizpal. The province is looking forward to expanding BizPaL to other areas of Saskatchewan over the next year.
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:
Todd MacKay
Office of the Honourable Gerry Ritz
Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism)
613-943-6183
Isabelle Fontaine
Office of the Honourable Maxime Bernier
Minister of Industry
613-995-9001
Media Relations
Industry Canada
613-943-2502
Cynthia Alcorn
Manager of Building Services
City of Yorkton
Tel: 306-786-1710
Bob Ellis
Director, Public Affairs
Saskatchewan Industry and Resources
Tel: 306-787-1691
Fax: 306-787-8447
Jackie Appel
City of Melville
Tel: 306-728-6849
E-mail: jappel@melville.ca
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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 more than 30 cities and towns in five provinces and territories. Those within Saskatchewan include Melville, Moose Jaw, Prince Albert, Saskatoon, Swift Current, Weyburn, and Yorkton, and the towns of Broadview, Canora, Carlyle, Churchbridge, Grenfell, Kamsack, Kipling, Langenburg, Whitewood and Wolseley.
The development of the BizPaL project 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.
