SUDBURY, Ontario, October 17, 2007 -- Starting and running a business in the City of Greater Sudbury just became easier thanks to BizPaL, an online business permit and licence service that saves time spent on paperwork and helps entrepreneurs start up faster.
Today, the Honourable Diane Ablonczy, Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism), on behalf of the Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry, together with Greater Sudbury Mayor John Rodriguez, welcomed the launch of BizPaL in the City of Greater Sudbury.
BizPaL is an innovative project that provides entrepreneurs with simplified access to the information on permits and licences that they need to establish and run their businesses. This unique partnership among federal, provincial, territorial, regional and local governments is designed to cut through the paperwork burden and red tape that small business owners encounter.
"Canada's New Government is pleased to be working with the Province of Ontario and the City of Greater Sudbury to provide easy access to essential information and reduce paperwork costs for area businesses," said Secretary of State Ablonczy. "This new service contributes to a more competitive and productive local economy."
"I am very pleased that BizPaL has been launched in our city," said Mayor Rodriguez. "Our community is growing at a tremendous rate -- more than ever, we must support our entrepreneurs through initiatives and tools such as this. BizPaL will be an asset to new business owners and will help to encourage economic development in Greater Sudbury."
The BizPaL service in the City of Greater Sudbury was developed with the support of Industry Canada, in collaboration with the City of Greater Sudbury and the Province of Ontario.
Area business owners and entrepreneurs can access the service by visiting http://www.greatersudbury.ca/bizpal or http://www.serviceontario.ca/bizpal. The Province is looking forward to expanding BizPaL to other areas of Ontario over the next year.
Visit http://www.bizpal.ca for additional project history and information, and to access the websites of participating partners.
For more information, please contact:
Catherine Godbout
Office of the Honourable Diane Ablonczy
Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism)
613-990-4056
Media Relations
Industry Canada
613-943-2502
Dana Jennings
Business Centre Coordinator
Regional Business Centre
City of Greater Sudbury
705-674-4455 ext. 4633
705-673-7722
dana.jennings@greatersudbury.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 they require 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 for them 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 50 cities and towns in six provinces and territories (refer to http://www.bizpal.ca for a complete list of participating jurisdictions). Within Ontario, Greater Sudbury joins a growing list of participating cities, including Brampton, Ottawa and Windsor, and the Regional Municipality of Halton.
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. In November 2006, Canada's New Government released Advantage Canada, its long-term economic plan, 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.
