About Us

The Reducing Paper Burden website is designed to provide information to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) about the Paperwork Burden Reduction Initiative (PBRI) and to seek their input for making further progress in reducing the regulatory paperwork burden or what is commonly called "red tape."

The PBRI is a public-private sector partnership aimed at measuring the costs and impact of regulatory compliance on small business and pursuing opportunities to reduce, rationalize and simplify regulatory requirements across federal departments and agencies. It is steered by a public-private sector Advisory Committee of 14 members, representing both the public and private sectors, including small business owners, business associations, and government departments and agencies. The Advisory Committee on Paperwork Burden Reduction (ACPBR) is co-chaired by Mr. David Fransen, Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy Sector at Industry Canada and Mr. Garth Whyte, Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).

The ACPBR is supported by a secretariat composed of officials of the Small Business Policy Branch of Industry Canada and representatives of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. To find out more about the ACPBR, mandate and composition, click on Advisory Committee on Paperwork Burden Reduction (ACPBR). The Partners section includes a list of public and private sector organizations that are involved in the PBRI.

The PBRI Projects section of the Reducing Paper Burden website references projects that are key to fulfilling the two core PBRI objectives: measuring the cost of regulatory compliance on small business and pursuing opportunities to simplify regulatory requirements across federal departments and agencies. In the Resource Centre section, you can access reports, papers and links regarding related research and initiatives taking place across the provinces, at the federal level and internationally.

The government is working on a number of initiatives to improve its interaction with businesses and citizens. Many of these initiatives are aimed at simplifying the paperwork requirements imposed on businesses. To find out more about these federal and provincial initiatives, click on Related Government Initiatives.

For further information on how to reach us, click on Contact Us.

If you are a Canadian small business and wish to share your views on how the Canadian government and other levels of government can make further progress in reducing the paper burden on Canadian small business, please contact the PBRI Secretariat by email at info@reducingpaperburden.gc.ca