To promote economic development, our government will take a major step forward in 2019 to reduce red tape. Our Regulatory Accountability Act will fully come into effect on July 1, ensuring Manitoba continues to decrease unnecessary administrative burdens for businesses, municipal governments, non-profit groups and citizens.
When we formed government in 2016, no one knew how many provincial regulatory requirements existed, where they were or who is responsible for enforcing them. After a year of hard work, we finally found the answer: 948,599 requirements in over 12,000 statutes, regulations, forms and policies.
Under our new legislation, the Manitoba government must now maintain a public listing of all regulatory requirements and where to find them. For every new regulation, government departments have to consult the public on the impact of the rule before it’s put in place. And we have capped the growth of provincial requirements by law – for every new requirement created, an existing one must be removed.
Because of our innovative legislation and regulatory system, Manitoba received an ‘A’ grade on the Canadian Federation of Independent Business National Red Tape Report Card again this past January to take the top spot among the provinces, with Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia. The CFIB gave our province an ‘A’ in 2018, too – a vast improvement after Manitoba was last among the provinces with an ‘F’ on the CFIB’s report card in 2016 under the previous NDP government, which allowed red tape to proliferate.
Our government is streamlining and simplifying in other ways, as well. Facing an overly complex health-care system, we are bringing changes to give patients better care, and sooner. Manitoba’s health system – with 180 bargaining units compared to British Columbia’s four bargaining units - is not efficient. We are reducing the number of bargaining units to 40, and restructuring the units according to the work people do. These changes will create flexibility to help the health-care system become more focused on patients’ needs. Our goals are better continuity of care, higher-quality care faster and a more efficient use of resources for patients in the north and for all Manitobans.
