Eliminating red tape and costly barriers to investment

One of the most effective ways governments can help lower costs on business is by getting rid of costly red tape and unnecessary regulations that also impose administrative costs on taxpayers. Premier Campbell’s government has eliminated over 150,000 needless regulations since 2001. More will be done to streamline approval processes and expedite investment and job creation at lower cost.

We will aggressively push for a “single window” process for environmental assessments and other necessary reviews requiring multiple government approvals. We need to speed up job creation in energy, mining and resort development with a single assessment for each project. Today, over $1.6 billion worth of projects in BC have their provincial Environmental Assessment Certificates, but are still awaiting federal approval.

Multiple assessments by multiple governments often replicate the same work. That adds time, cost and uncertainty to companies wanting to invest. In short, it increases risk and reduces investment. We will eliminate that duplication of effort through new reciprocal arrangements and equivalency agreements with the federal government and other provinces. We will also push to replace the federal Navigable Water Protection Act with a modern framework to properly protect our waterways without undue costs or unnecessary jurisdictional overlaps.

It’s time to eliminate federal restrictions on international air travel and pursue “Open Skies” agreements that allow airlines to land at any airport that can handle their business. That will open up our international airports to new direct flights from Asia, India and Europe that are currently prohibited by Ottawa. This is a key priority. "Open Skies"  agreements will save travelers time and money by giving them more direct flight options to and from their destinations. They will also attract new growth in tourism in places like Prince George, Kamloops, Terrace, Comox, Nanaimo and Cranbrook.

"Open skies" will create hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity and thousands of jobs in every region of the province. The major airport expansions we have undertaken in partnership with the federal government create opportunities for international air carriers and open our province to the world.