Running a small business in Canada has never been easier, thanks to red tape reductions of 20 per cent over the last two years, federal minister of state (small business and tourism) Diane Ablonczy announced today.

Since 2007, the federal government has streamlined regulations, eliminated duplicate requirements and got rid of over-lapping obligations, Albonczy told reporters and officials in Vancouver.

“I have excellent news for you today,” she said. “On behalf of the government of Canada, I am pleased to announce that the government has reached its goal of reducing and cutting the big burden of paper work.”

Small Businesses will also be exempt from performing surveys from Statistics Canada and won’t be required to make as many tax filings, tasks Ablonczy said are very time consuming for small entrepreneurs.

She added that paper work required by the federal government is responsible for thousands of wasted hours spent on repetitious work.

“We can do this, but it does not have to weigh down small business and take hours, days and even months of their time,” Ablonczy said.

The answer is a program called BizPal, she said. The online program provides information about forms, regulations and permits required by all levels of Government.

“What used to take a small business seven in a half hours now takes 15 minutes,” Ablonczy said. “The less time and the less money that entrepreneurs have to spend on paper work, the more they can spend on growing their business.”

As The Tyee reported earlier this month, small businesses produce long term jobs, create dependable revenue and put significant amounts of money into local economies.

“For small business owners, dealing with red tape and paper burden can really feel like death by one thousand paper cuts,” said Laura Jones, vice president of the Canada West Canadian Federation of Independent business.

Ed Bukszar, Associate Dean of Graduate studies at Simon Fraser University’s Segal Graduate school of business, said the 20 per cent reduction would not hurt small businesses, but said the change is unlikely to have a huge impact.

“It can’t hurt but I don’t think its going make a big difference,” Bukszar said.

Morgan J. Modjeski is a staff reporter for The Hook.