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Slide1

Online Source forPermits and Licencesfor Canadian Businesses

BizPaL Overview Slide2

Entrepreneurship is complicatedWrite a business planGet financing

Get required permits, licences and registrationsUnderstand regulatory obligationsHire staffLocation, location, location…

Protect intellectual property

Get the word out (web site, advertising, etc.)

Get insurance

I have a

great ideaSlide3

Tracking and Tackling Red TapeSlide4

Tracking regulatory burden Source: Canadian Federation of Independent Business, “Canada’s Red Tape Report – With U.S. Comparisons”, January 2013.

30.9 billion = 1.7% of Canada’s GDP

For at least 10 years, CFIB has been tracking the regulatory burden on Canadian businesses. Slide5

Entrepreneurial burdenIn small businesses, it is predominantly (80% of the time) the business owner who deals with regulatory issues. 73% of business owners are stressed by regulations 51% of business owners spend time on regulations outside regular business hours.

Buried under $31 Billion worth of paperwork burden

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Source: Canadian Federation of Independent Business, “Rated R: Prosperity Restricted by Red Tape”, 2005. Slide6

Plus consider the cost of non-complianceThe MEO may issue a warning notice with directions to remedy the problem within a specified time frame or issue a bylaw ticket with a fine ranging from $400 to $10,000, depending on the type of business activity, the number of days operating without a licence, the other circumstances.

What happens if you contravene the Building Code Act, 1992?For a corporation, a first offence could result in a

maximum fine of $100,000 and $200,000 for subsequent infractions.

Penalties for contraventions of the

Export and Import Permits Act

or the Regulations are set out in Section 19 of the Act. Penalties can be, for an offence punishable on summary conviction, a

fine of up to $25,000 or imprisonment for up to 12 months

, or both; and for an indictable offence, a maximum fine set by the court or imprisonment for a maximum of 10 years, or both.Slide7

“31% of business owners in Canada say that if they had known the burden of regulation, they may not have gone into business.”

How many businesses never start because of excessive regulations? Source: Canadian Federation of Independent Business, “Canada’s Red Tape Report – With U.S. Comparisons”, January 2013. Slide8

How can we help small business owners dig out? Slide9

BIZPAL’s ROLE in ADDRESSING REGULATORY BURDENSlide10

Federal Budget 2004“Reducing the Paperwork Burden for Small BusinessesThe cost of complying with government regulations can be burdensome, especially for small businesses. In fact, a recent survey of Canadian Federation of Independent Business members found that 61 per cent cite government regulations and paper burden as having a significant impact on their operations. Entrepreneurs’ time is best spent growing their businesses and creating new jobs.Budget 2004 commits the Government to working with small business groups to make measurable reductions in the paperwork burden.”- Federal Budget 2004Led to the creation of the Paperwork Burden Reduction InitiativeSlide11

A little help please…Source: Canadian Federation of Independent Business, “Rated R: Prosperity Restricted by Red Tape”, 2005. Slide12

Permits and Licences One aspect of the regulatory burden that businesses face is permits and licences required for various business activities. There are permits and licences at three levels of government that businesses need to be aware of.This applies when they start-up, but also when they make changes to their business. Slide13

Common Permit TypesFederalProvincial/TerritorialMunicipal

ImportingExportingFishingRadio-Television and TelecommunicationsEnvironmentCrown Land UseBusinessExploration/MiningInsuranceAlcohol and

TobaccoPesticide Sale and UsePublic Land or Facility Use

Hunting/Trapping, Game Farms, Furs and Hides

Funeral/Burial

Gambling

Forestry

Oil and Gas Processing and Storage

Child Care

Abattoir/Meat Processing

Dairy

Electrical

Real Estate

Collection

Business

Building and Demolition

Zoning and Development

Plumbing, Sewage, Septic, Water

Sign

Taxi

Road Use, Driveways

Dog

Adult Entertainment

Burning

Transient Traders

Move Building

Occupancy

Second Hand

Kennel

Mobile Food

Special Events

Private Gambling

Oversize/Overweight Vehicle

Swimming Pool

Place of Amusement

Gas and Electrical

Home-based Business

Food PremisesSlide14

OpportunitySlide15

10 years in the making

2004 …

2014…

BizPaL offers a self-service web-based tool that allows clients to generate a customized list of permits, licences and other regulations that they require from all orders of government. It provides comprehensive information and facilitates self-service, which also allows governments to more efficiently utilize the resources they dedicate to client service.

The BizPaL Initiative was created to significantly improve the experience of businesses dealing with multiple governments – and to serve as a model for similar collaborative efforts between governments in the future. Slide16

How BizPaL helpsSource: Canadian Federation of Independent Business, “Rated R: Prosperity Restricted by Red Tape”, 2005.

BizPaL can help with these. Slide17

HOW DOES BizPaL WORK? Slide18

Searching for Information: Before and AfterThey spend several hours visiting federal, provincial/territorial and municipal government websites to find the information they need.To refine and complete their list they spend several days calling or visiting several government offices at all levels.After all that they are still not sure if they’ve found everything and may have gotten conflicting advice from different government offices.

BEFORE BizPaL

SCENARIO: An entrepreneur is thinking of opening a restaurant and wants to find out what government permits and licences they’ll need

All levels of government and all channels direct clients to the BizPaL service.

Clients are now able to obtain a comprehensive and customized list of the permits and licenses that they require from all levels of government, containing links and contact information to allow them to proceed to the application process in approximately 3.8 minutes.

AFTER

BizPaLSlide19

Available directly via partner websites…Slide20

ExampleStephen Beckta

Ottawa restaurateur. Opened three restaurants in the past few years. Slide21

DemoStephen BecktaHow many permits and licences?54 total possible27 based on selected activities10 put into briefcase for further review or actionSlide22

“Having opened two restaurants over the span of 6 years, once with the help of BizPaL and once on my own, I can honestly say what a difference it made to the red tape that one normally thinks of when it comes to regulation requirements during the start up phase of a new business. I hope all new and seasoned entrepreneurs are turned onto the time, and headache-saving help you will find with BizPaL. I wish all government services were so user focused and well put together.”Stephen BecktaSlide23

FROM PROOF OF CONCEPT TO NATIONAL SERVICESlide24

How did it grow? 2003/2004Industry Canada received $336,000 in GOL funding to collaborate with provinces, territories and municipalities to develop a proof of concept for a permit and licence service.RFI issued in November 2003 to obtain input from private-sector technology partners. Slide25

How did it grow? 2005Pilot project with three municipalities across three levels of government initiated. Whitehorse, YukonKamloops, British ColumbiaHalton Region, OntarioWhitehorse, Yukon first site to go live in December 2005 with federal, territorial and municipal permits and licences. Slide26

How did it grow? 2006Launched in select communities in 4 more provinces (BC, SK, MB, ON). Awards:GTEC – Cross Jurisdictional Partnerships – Silver MedalPublic Service Award of Excellence – Citizen Focused Service DeliveryCanadian Information Productivity Awards – Best of Show Diamond AwardAdditional $6 million over 2 years. Slide27

How did it grow? 2007/2008Launched in Nova Scotia (2007) and New Brunswick (2008)Additional funding of $3 million per year provided for accelerated expansion of BizPaL from 2007 to 2011. Slide28

How did it grow? 2009BizPaL reaches more than 50% population coverage across Canada and in many provinces and territories where the service is available.Launched in Alberta, Northwest Territories and Newfoundland and Labrador. Slide29

How did it grow? 2010Expansion in PEI and continued growth in other provinces and territories. Launched significant data transformation project:Migration from costly custom-CMS to a flexible open source solution. More user-centric system (move from question/answer model to activity-based model) and improved user interface. Savings of $3 million over 5 years. Slide30

How did it grow? 2011Permanent funding of $3 million per year announced for BizPaL.GTEC Award for Excellence in Public Service Delivery for the transformation of BizPaL. Slide31

How did it grow? 2012/2013Budget 2012: “we will build on our very effective partnership with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, to continue reducing red tape across government. Our goal is to allow businesses to focus on what they do best—creating jobs and opportunity, from coast to coast to coast.”2013Partners renewed their commitment to BizPaL by signing a 5 year Intergovernmental Letter of Agreement (ILA). Slide32

How did it grow? 2014Partnering in Quebec and Nunavut, making BizPaL a complete national partnership. Slide33

Partnership at the heart of BizPaLBizPaL has always been a partnership between the federal, provincial, territorial and local governments. Budget 2011 provided $3 million per year to make BizPaL permanent and allow for continued expansion and improvements.Provincial and territorial partners contribute a combined $700K per year for shared hosting, maintenance and support costs.“It was essential that the planning and design elements be undertaken by all levels of government to ensure we could address the full range of client needs and different jurisdictional requirements.” - Elise Boisjoly, Director General Government On-Line in 2005. Quoted in SUMMIT. Slide34

Interjurisdictional Governance Model

IC provides leadership for the BizPaL initiative on behalf of the Government of Canada and houses the National BizPaL Office who is responsible for managing the centralized governance structure. All provincial/territorial partners have signed an Intergovernmental Letter of Agreement (ILA) to participate. All orders of government are part of the governance structure to ensure equal representation and a consensus-based, whole-of-government approach. Each government partner retains authority over its participation in BizPaL including for its own information, jurisdiction-specific branding and presentation of the service to clients on their respective web sites.Slide35

Partnership Roles and Responsibilities Slide36

BizPaL in 2014Slide37

Key Stats as of 2014There are 13,159 permits and licences in the BizPaL database, including:180 federal2,868 provincial/territorial10,086 municipal More than 10,000 businesses are served by BizPaL each quarter.Slide38

National AvailabilityBizPaL available in 735 municipalities (covering 64% of the Canadian population).JurisdictionPopulation CoverageAlberta85%Bristish Columbia86%Manitoba

76%Ontario80%PEI69%New Brunswick51%Newfoundland and Labrador66%

Nova Scotia81%

Northwest Territories

21%

Nunavut

Launch TBD

Quebec

13%

Saskatchewan

70%

Yukon

80%

Canada

64%Slide39

Who Uses BizPaL?

Building Construction

3.4% of BizPaL uses101,957 Canadian businesses

Full Service Restaurant

3.6% of BizPaL uses

41,364 Canadian businesses

Limited Service Restaurant (Fast Food)

2.9% of BizPaL uses

35,804 Canadian businesses

Computer Systems Design

and Related Services

2.6% of BizPaL uses

72,124 Canadian businesses

Management, scientific and technical consulting

2.8% of BizPaL uses

94,286 Canadian businesses

Top 5 sectors represent 15% of BizPaL uses, meaning there are many more diverse sectors being served.

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BizPaL BenefitsTo Business…Improves access to compliance information from all levels of government through one point of accessSaves time and money in researching information and responding to government requirementsReduces risk of non-complianceOffers customized information when and where clients need itHas been strongly endorsed by the CFIBTo Government…Helps achieve red tape reduction goalsLeverages partnerships and technology solutions to improve service delivery in a cost effective mannerOffers up-to-date tool for government agents at all levels to serve businessesDemonstrates how all levels of government are working together to help businessSlide41

More Work To Be DoneSlide42

Strategic ObjectivesContentTransactionService IntegrationTrusted, high quality contentRegulations and Service StandardsPromotion of “open” contentOnline fillable formsAbility to use CRA Business Number for client identification and service improvementBundled, related servicesReporting: For clients/stakeholders, as well as administrativeIntegration “toolkit” for BizPaL

Content lifecycle processParticipant roles and responsibilities clearly definedInformation architecture for new content typesInformation architecture for formsApplication, process and security architecture for integrating Business Number into BizPaLProduct acquisition to support fillable forms through BizPaLStrategic framework for integration, with staged rolloutPerformance and business analytics framework

Policy, standards, protocolsOntology

Federated service architecture Slide43

CHALLENGES: USABILITYOver the years, BizPaL has conducted regular usability testing to identify areas for improvement and to benchmark success rates over time. Some examples of changes made to BizPaL as a result of iterative usability testing include:Continuous evolution and refinement of metadata for business activities, industry sectors and keywords to improve the findability of relevant permits and licencesSimplified user interface text, layout and flow to present information clearly and reduce time needed to get resultsAddition of briefcase functionality to enable users to create short lists for printing, emailing or sharing. 200961%

201483%

Benchmarked usability success rateSlide44

CHALLENGES: DATA QUALITYSignificant improvements made in broken link tracking and identification of spelling errors. However:Infrequent reviews of content (every two years) means that content is sometimes out of date.Inconsistencies in data entry due to decentralized content management process. Insufficient resources to maintain content.

IQM Framework tracks the extent to which BizPaL content is:During expansion, it is important to ensure that the quality of existing content does not suffer. Slide45

CHALLENGES: TRANSACTIONSApplying for permits and licences is still very much a paper-based operation in most cases. According to the Statistics Canada Survey of Regulatory Compliance Costs, (2008), 86% of business at the provincial level and 92% at the municipal level submitted their forms manually not electronically. BizPaL is exploring options to help partners facilitate a more complete solution, from discovery all the way to fulfillment. Slide46

CHALLENGES: EXPANSION TO REGULATIONSPermits and licences are just the tip of the regulatory iceberg. Budget 2014 states:“The Government will explore opportunities to work with willing jurisdictions through initiatives such as BizPaL, the online portal for federal, provincial, territorial and municipal permits and licences, to make it easier for Canadian businesses to operate anywhere across the country.”First step = working with Internal Trade to link permits licences in BizPaL to their respective legislative and regulatory authority. Further opportunities to facilitate comparison across jurisdictions and to expand to other types of regulatory requirements. Slide47

Invitation to Future Dialogue