Fewer Fees, Better Services Act could benefit our community

By Lincoln DePradine

Members of the Black and Caribbean community, like other Ontario residents, could benefit from a series of new measures just announced by the conservative government of Premier Doug Ford.

The measures are designed to make the Province of Ontario “the best place in Canada to open and to grow business; to welcome newcomers and to raise a family’’, government minister Nina Tangri said, during a virtual news conference on March 4 with reporters representing ethnic media.

Tangri met the press shortly after tabling in the Ontario legislature, a bill that forms part of what the Conservatives label as a “red tape reduction’’ package.

The latest bill – the eighth of the package – was tabled under the title, the “Fewer Fees, Better Services Act’’.

“With this legislation, we want to create a business-ready environment for investment, put money back in people’s pockets, and make Ontario the number one choice in North America to raise a family and operate a business,” Tangri told her parliamentary colleagues in the legislature.

Some of the proposed changes in the “Fewer Fees, Better Services Act’’ include removing tolls from Highways 412 and 418; and cutting costs for millions of Ontario vehicle owners by refunding license plate sticker renewal fees, which have been paid since March 1 of last year.

The Conservatives, who formed the government in 2018 and are seeking reelection this June, say since day one of taking office four years ago, they have been “working diligently to streamline how people and businesses access the government by reducing unnecessary burdens and red tape that govern people, workers and businesses in Ontario’’.

The government boasts of making “huge strides, resulting in big savings to businesses, not-for-profits, municipalities, universities and colleges, school boards and hospitals in regulatory compliance costs; the total of which has brought us very close to reaching our target goal of $400 million in net annual savings’’.

Tangri, associate minister responsible for small business and red tape reduction, credited the government with attaining “meaningful progress to do things better, safer, and stronger to build a brighter future for everyone’’.

The minister, in her discussion with reporters, highlighted a planned new approach of government to procurement that would “strengthen the province’s supply chain and help domestic businesses grow and create good-paying jobs’’; and, also will provide “more flexibility related to provincial assets by creating a centre of realty excellence’’.

Another of the planned initiatives of government is to establish a “single window for business services’’, allowing businesses to “track the information they need from government’’, including providing “realistic timelines’’ for such things as securing permits and licences, Tangri said.

“A part of the single window will act as the new front door for entrepreneurs looking to start a business. In essence, it will cut the time it takes for new businesses to go from concept to doors-open-faster and more efficiently,’’ she explained.

“It’s troubling to see the focus turned to the elections, when there are still so many struggles that everyday Ontarians are facing; and, we can’t lose that focus,’’ Ontario’s Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath, said Wednesday at a news conference, where she was joined by NDP MPP Doly Begum and four medical practitioners.

The NDP, through Begum, is tabling a bill in the legislature it says would eliminate current barriers that make it difficult for foreign-trained and credentialed doctors and other healthcare workers to practice in Ontario.

“We welcome this bill because we welcome the opportunity that the bill presents; an opportunity for our voices to be heard,’’ said Dr Makini McGuire-Brown, chair of the board for Internationally Trained Physicians of Ontario.

(LTI)