DAUPHIN, Manitoba, December 23, 2008 - Starting and running a business in the city of Dauphin just became easier thanks to BizPaL, a new online business permit and licence service that saves time spent on paperwork and helps entrepreneurs start up faster.
Today, Inky Mark, Member of Parliament for Dauphin–Swan River–Marquette, on behalf of the Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Industry, together with the Honourable Andrew Swan, Manitoba's Minister of Competitiveness, Training and Trade, and Alex Paul, Mayor of the City of Dauphin, welcomed the launch of BizPaL in Dauphin.
"With the current global economic instability, we need to make things easier for Canadian businesses, especially small businesses, which create so many of our new jobs," said Mr. Mark. "BizPaL is a simple, cost-effective way to provide this kind of practical help to Canadian businesses. I am pleased to see BizPaL come to Dauphin and expand to more communities in Manitoba."
BizPaL is an innovative project that provides entrepreneurs with simplified access to the information on permits and licences 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. The BizPaL service in Dauphin was developed by the City of Dauphin, the Province of Manitoba and the Government of Canada.
"I am very pleased that BizPaL has been launched in the city of Dauphin to promote the competitiveness of the community in attracting and growing businesses," said Minister Swan. "BizPaL is a concrete example of our government's Single Window for Business Initiative, which is working to ensure business information and services are easy to find, easy to understand and easy to use."
"The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has been a long-time advocate of BizPaL," said Shannon Martin, Director of Provincial Affairs, Manitoba, for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. "This initiative offers important benefits to entrepreneurs and government and is something every municipality should be adopting. We applaud the federal government, the Province of Manitoba and the City of Dauphin for embracing BizPaL."
"The City of Dauphin has been working jointly with the Province and the federal government to welcome this city into the BizPaL family. BizPaL streamlines the permit and licence process and is an effective tool for business development in the city of Dauphin," said Mayor Paul.
Area business owners and entrepreneurs can access the service by visiting www.dauphin.ca or www.manitoba.ca/business. The Province is looking forward to expanding BizPaL to other areas of Manitoba in the near future.
Visit www.bizpal.ca for additional project history, information and access to the websites of participating partners.
For further information (media only), please contact:
Catherine Godbout
Office of the Honourable Diane Ablonczy
Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism)
613-947-5856
Media Relations
Industry Canada
613-943-2502
Joe Czech
Communications Coordinator
Communications Services Manitoba
204-945-6778
Jana Schott
City of Dauphin
204-622-3229
