Fraser is out with their latest report on investment climate in the provinces. New Brunswick is ranked 7th out of the 10 provinces but ranks 9th for Fiscal Prudence and 9th for Burden of Regulation. We rank 3rd on the quality of transportation infrastructure (this makes sense given we have more km of paved road per 1,000 population then all other provinces.
Burden of red tape definition:
This component measures the burden of government regulations, often referred to as “red tape.” This measure is based on a survey of regulatory costs completed by the Canadian Federation of Independent
Business (CFIB).
I am getting old. Didn’t Bernard Lord have a “red tape reduction commission” in 1999? 10 years later and we are still ranked 9th out of 10 provinces. What the heck is red tape?
I don’t know why you would treat the Fraser Institute as anything other than what it is, a highly partisan advocacy of minimal government.
Regardless, I am curious to see what this red tape looks like.
What the heck is red tape?
That’s an interesting question and one that needs to be looked at more closely here in New Brunswick. This is one that caught my eye as a barrier to free enterprise.
As an entrepreneur I’d have thought you’d be well aware of that:) Federally there have been numerous changes, for example I only need to keep a standard mileage chart for a month as opposed to keep a logbook for the entire year to differentiate between work mileage and personal mileage on my vehicles. In BC a hydro project was ‘held up’ for 500 days, but no mention whether thats environmental testing or paper sitting on a bureaucrats desk for months.
The biggest problem is red tape is mostly hidden, which makes me wonder where Fraser got THEIR data. Its interesting that their labour relations variables are stated up front (stronger unions means worse scores), yet red tape is not mentioned. It’s also interesting to note that Canada is practically the EASIEST place to start a business. I did it in one day.
But doing a little research shows that red tape essentially means ANYTHING you have to do for the government. Whether thats Fraser’s version of red tape is something else entirely. Given that environmental permission is handed out to even the worst potential industries based on a companies own data, I don’t see how NB can rank that low. The only thing worse for the public would be NO data.
Looking at NB more specifically, the one area that glares out is that NB has much more of a mish mash in its acts and regulations. It’s common for one field of business to be affected by more than one department or regulation, but NB seems to have far fewer specifics than most provinces I’ve looked at. But I’d suggest listing your credentials and sending an email along to Fraser asking specifically for their definition.