BizPaL Launched in Colwood, British Columbia

COLWOOD, British Columbia, April 22, 2008 — Starting and running a business in the city of Colwood 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, the Honourable Diane Ablonczy, Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism), on behalf of the Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry, together with the Honourable Ida Chong, Minister of Community Services and Minister Responsible for Seniors' and Women's Issues for British Columbia, and Jody Twa, Mayor of Colwood, welcomed the launch of BizPaL in Colwood.

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. The BizPaL service in Colwood was developed with the support of Industry Canada, in collaboration with the City of Colwood and the Province of British Columbia.

"The Government of Canada is working hard with provincial, territorial and municipal governments to help small businesses thrive," said Secretary of State Ablonczy. "Small businesses are a major engine of our economy, and BizPaL is part of the government's economic plan to provide an innovative and entrepreneurial business environment by reducing paperwork costs and making it easier for businesses to get the information they need."

"BizPaL is consistent with our government's goal of reducing the regulatory burden on small business," said Minister Chong. "This will give British Columbia's entrepreneurs more time to focus their efforts on growing their small businesses."

"I'm proud our municipality can now offer this innovative BizPaL service to our small business community, to help them save time and access the information they need to start their businesses," said Mayor Twa.

Area business owners and entrepreneurs can access the service by visiting http://www.city.colwood.bc.ca and looking under BizPaL, or http://www.bcbizpal.ca. The Province is looking forward to expanding BizPaL to other areas of British Columbia over the next year.

Visit http://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
Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism)
613-947-5856

Media Relations
Industry Canada
613-943-2502

Dave Crebo
Communications Director
Ministry of Small Business and Revenue
Government of British Columbia
250-387-4193

Chris Pease
Chief Administrative Officer
City of Colwood
250-478-5541

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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, eight provinces and territories are participating in BizPaL, with more than 90 municipalities offering the service (visit http://www.bizpal.ca for a complete list of participating jurisdictions). Within the province of British Columbia, Colwood joins a growing list of participating municipalities.

BizPaL was a commitment of the Government of Canada in Budget 2006. It grew out of a working group of representatives from federal departments and from provincial, territorial and municipal governments across Canada. The development of the BizPaL project involved consultations with stakeholders in business and government.

In November 2006, the Government of Canada released Advantage Canada, in which it committed to reducing the paper burden on businesses by 20 percent. In Budget 2007, the Government of Canada took further action by requiring key federal regulatory departments and agencies to establish an inventory of administrative requirements and information obligations with which business must comply, and to achieve a 20-percent reduction in these requirements and obligations by November 2008. Budget 2008 reaffirmed this commitment and highlighted the importance of complementary measures that simplify paperwork for businesses but do not reduce the inventory of requirements. BizPaL is key among these complementary measures.