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Amid unprecedented trade turmoil, the ruling progressive conservatives in Ontario are eager to signal with Prime Minister Doug Ford and his finance minister to allow their bureaucratic obstacles, but their eyes are in trouble.
During a recent visit to Orillia, Ontario, Ford talked about the impact of “Traditional tape, bureaucracy” and could eventually bring important projects to the finish line.
“Let’s not take three to four years to get a license. Let’s not cover up the barriers, because there is a grasshopper in a field and everyone has to stop and wait for that grasshopper – it’s ridiculous.”
CBC News has obtained a draft internal government document that recommends a comprehensive review of Ontario’s licenses and proposes to convert or cancel all licenses issued at the provincial and municipal levels within one year.
“Ontario’s license negatively affects competitiveness due to regulatory accumulation,” the documents said.
These documents have not disappeared before the cabinet. But they provide a window for possible paths that governments may take.
CBC News sent a detailed description of the documents to the prime minister’s office, asking for comment, but a spokesman said the government could not do so without directly viewing them. CBC News did not show the actual documents to officials to ensure we protect the identity of the sources provided by these documents in case the documents contain any identification details.
Although the Prime Minister’s Office refused to address specific issues in CBC News regarding possible overhauls for provincial licenses, the latest comments from Ford and Ontario’s Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy suggest that the government is interested in examining this widespread bureaucratic tool.
“We have to build more, we have to build faster, we have to get the job done – a lot of it has to do with regulations [and] allow.
He said the Ontario government has been talking to Ottawa about the need for permission to simplify things to speed up, both in this province and in other jurisdictions in Canada.
But when asked about the government’s interest in permitting, as stated in the document and other legislative measures being considered, Bertramfarley refused to “talk about any specific measures that have not been announced yet.”
The Finance Minister also said PC’s recent campaign platform provides signs about some steps the government wants to take. The platform he mentioned mentioned mentioned “reducing barriers to traditional Chinese tape festivals and buildings”, especially to accelerate “land use plans and building codes allow approval”, in addition to other suggestions.
The permit touches on many Ontario life, from building projects to signs near highways, licenses listed on provincial government websites. There are even permits for beekeepers to transfer bees or equipment to others.
Mixed reception?
According to the draft document, Ontario civil servants believe that the business community will be “very supportive” of the licensing restriction, but they hope most other stakeholders will have a “mixed” reaction.
Social and environmental groups may “not support” the potential to “cause concerns about protection and erosion of regulations”, while the wider public may be divided, the document says.
Civil servants also believe that indigenous communities will attract attention, and municipalities will have something to say about the new requirements that must be faced with permission.
According to the document, the government’s mitigation strategy may involve relying on critical news, stressing that any proposed changes will not negate the province’s obligation to consult with indigenous communities and will not make it responsible for maintaining health, safety and environmental protection.
Paul Seaman, a partner at Gowling WLG law firm, and the national leader of its Indigenous Law Practice Group, noted that the consulting obligation is “official when considering anything that could affect Indigenous rights.”
At this point, the provincial government’s draft document states that if the permit is overhauled, its intention is “the official will continue to fulfill its constitutional obligations in consultation with indigenous communities.”
But seafarers say that in this case, reaching agreement is the “gold standard” and imposing deadlines on a particular project or process may not help to achieve that.
Environmental Defense executive director Tim Gray predicts that a license overhaul in the context of cutting the traditional tape festival will resonate with some Ontario. But he said the public also wants protections designed to address the harms.
“Everyone likes a small amount of traditional Chinese tape, so composition in this way will have a degree of popularity,” he said. “But people also like clean water, safe food, truck tires that don’t fly out of 401.”
John Milloy, a former liberal MPP who served on five cabinet portfolios throughout his political career, pointed to the key question at the heart of such a process, “Why are these licenses present?”
He said there are often root causes for obtaining licenses, which suggests that in some cases, canceling them may not be an option.
Miloy said governments that tend to slogans rather than deregulation may also have problems.
“This cannot be done with slogans.”
The current PC government is not the first Ontario government to reduce its efforts to red rings. For example, in 2016, the liberal government led by Prime Minister Kathleen Wynne announced its efforts to identify and adjust regulations that are considered “unclear, outdated, redundant or unnecessary”.
The following year, the proposed changes being considered by the same government were reported worldwide, lowering the old ones if they were brought into the new ones, but somehow saw that the financial burden was greater than the increase. The Liberal Party did not continue to rule after the 2018 election, when Ford’s PC Party won the task for the first time under his leadership.
A new mandate and trade war
The PC government recently secured a third term, putting Ford firmly at the forefront of a trade war that remains irrelevant to the United States
The documents show that trade issues will form part of government justification in the potential address of the permit landscape.
However, some observers believe the licensing issue has led the PC government to take a political runway to conduct a relaxed style that may be favored before trade tensions emerge.
U.S. tariffs on Canadian cars have led to factory closures and job layoffs. As CBC’s Dale Manucdoc reported, while that marks a slowdown in production, industry experts say used cars are about to see a surge in demand.
“It seems to me that Ford is trying to push something through his view of the government,” said Laura Stephenson, a political science professor at West London University in Ontario, after hearing about the licensing-related measures described in the draft document.
Green Party leader Mike Schreiner said Ontarians will seek government investments to protect workers and businesses affected by U.S. tariffs.
“We want to invest in encouraging more businesses [and] In an interview earlier this month, he said in an interview: “In Ontario, we want to invest in more public infrastructure.”
“We just have to make sure it is done fiscally and environmentally responsible, and I’m worried about the Ford administration cutting corners.”
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