I’m honoured to rise to speak on the Less Red Tape, Stronger Ontario Act, 2022. Most of my comments will be regarding the impact the bill will have on small business and the business community in general. As many know, I’m a proud small business owner myself, employing hundreds over the years.

Speaker, red tape causes delays and complication every day for governments, businesses, not-for-profit organizations, the broader public sector and individuals alike. Over my many years in business, I have run into too many instances of red tape slowing down processes. Not only can it be frustrating, but also time-consuming. It is a significant barrier to productivity, economic competitiveness and development. Red tape drains valuable resources and takes focus away from doing business.

Our government has heard these complaints from everyone, whether it is individuals, businesses or in the media. We need to quickly act to keep Ontario competitive with other regions in Canada and throughout the world.

One of our government’s top priorities since 2018 has been to remove unnecessary and outdated regulations that are holding businesses back. We’ve made great progress so far, but there is still more work to be done. Over the past five years, our government has reduced Ontario’s total regulatory compliance requirements by 6.5%. In addition, we have saved over $576 million in regulatory compliance costs since June 2018. Those savings have directly helped not-for-profit organizations, municipalities, businesses, school boards, colleges and universities and hospitals. The progress has been achieved through common sense. The changes save both time and money, Speaker. The government has passed eight high-impact pieces of red tape reduction legislation since 2018.

Speaker, there is much more work to be done. Ontario’s people and businesses are facing big challenges. On top of everyday difficulties, there are supply chain disruptions that have been made much worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. My business has felt many of these supply chain issues, and they still persist two and a half years into the pandemic.

Every business owner I have spoken with in my travels throughout Stormont, Dundas and South Glengarry has felt the immense impact and stress of the supply chain disruptions on their business and relationships with their family. In fact, two thirds of Ontario businesses report that supply challenges have gotten worse this year.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve seen huge shifts in demand as the habits of people and businesses have changed, often suddenly, putting even more pressure on a fractured supply chain. On top of that, there are ongoing labour shortages that are impacting day-to-day life in Ontario’s economy, especially in consumer goods and the food service industries, which my business is in. More than one third of businesses say that labour shortages will limit their growth.

We know that government can play a supportive role to ensure that businesses develop well-functioning supply chains and solve challenges like what we’re seeing with the labour market at this time. There are more things our government can do to cut red tape. Through consultation with stakeholders, we’ve been creating an inventory of ideas that are continually being assessed and that are driving current and future actions.

The Less Red Tape, Stronger Ontario Act, 2022, is our ninth burden reduction bill since 2018 to cut more red tape. Our intentions are to:

—strengthen Ontario’s supply chain;

—support farmers and agribusinesses;

—grow our labour force;

—make life easier for people and businesses by making it easier to interact with the government; and

—ensure Ontario remains competitive in the global market.

The Less Red Tape, Stronger Ontario Act, 2022, outlines a series of proposed legislative and regulatory changes as well as policy announcements we intend to make moving forward to achieve these objectives. The bill, if passed, will streamline processes and modernize outdated practices across multiple areas of government and multiple sectors of Ontario’s economy.

This proposed legislation will lead Ontario to more economic certainty, confidence and stability, something every business owner would welcome in these uncertain times. It will help to ensure our province continues to be competitive in the global market. This bill, and all the actions we will take along with it, will help build a stronger Ontario where people and businesses can continue to thrive now and into the future.

Five guiding principles consistently direct our efforts to reduce red tape. The first principle is to protect public health, safety and the environment. We’ve worked to ease regulatory burdens in a smart and careful way to ensure that health, safety and environmental protections are maintained or enhanced. The second principle is to prioritize the important issues. Here, we’ve assessed which regulations cost the most time and the most money, while looking for innovative ways to ensure rules stay effective and efficient. The third principle is to harmonize rules with the federal government and other jurisdictions where we can. We’re targeting red-tape duplication and aligning with other jurisdictions where possible to eliminate steps that cost job creators time and money. The fourth principle is to listen to the people and businesses of Ontario. We’ve committed to hearing from people and businesses on an ongoing basis to learn what we can do to remove obstacles standing in their way. Our fifth principle is to take a whole-of-government approach. We’ve taken a coordinated approach to make sure everyone is on the same red-tape-reduction page, a broad, informed perspective that would deliver smarter government for the people and higher economic growth to match.

The next set of proposed changes I’d like to discuss support Ontario’s workplace insurance and compensation system, or WSIB. The proposed legislation will make a number of changes to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act in support of Ontario’s broader red tape reduction efforts to streamline and modernize outdated practices within our government to make life easier for Ontarians. The changes, if adopted, would improve WSIB’s operational efficiency and reduce undue administrative burden to allow the WSIB to focus on key functions, including supporting injured workers and the businesses.

The proposed changes would:

—ensure injured or ill apprentices receive loss-of-earnings benefits at the same amount journeypersons employed in the same trade would receive;

—provide more flexibility regarding how often the WSIB board of directors must meet by changing the requirement that they meet every two months to a required minimum of four times a year;

—update the requirements of WSIB governance documents to ensure that they are consistent with and do not duplicate other government directives;

—streamline the requirements for WSIB office lease transactions by excluding them from the requirement for Lieutenant Governor in Council approval; and

—ensure the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997, does not reference repealed statutes.

The WSIB is one of the largest insurance organizations in North America. Reducing the administrative burden at the WSIB will enable them to operate more efficiently, creating an agile system that is able to better cater to the needs of workers and businesses in Ontario.

With this bill, our government is creating conditions that let businesses and the people of Ontario thrive and prosper. The proposed legislation will grow our labour force and increase Ontario’s competitiveness in the global market. As a result, if the bill passes, the legislation will benefit business and people living in our great province.

Thank you to the member from Elgin–Middlesex–London—that’s almost as much of a tongue twister as Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry.

The WSIB is one of the largest insurance organizations in North America. Reducing the administrative burden for the WSIB will enable them to operate more efficiently, creating an agile system that is able to better cater to the needs of workers and businesses in Ontario. The more efficient WSIB is, the better it works.

A case-by-case basis, I think, would have to be understood—to know if they’re deeming them into a proper new career in that regard. To me, you need to live within the confines of that employee, so if they have a severe injury, they would be more prone to go into the office work side of things—but I’d need to know each case by case because I haven’t necessarily had to deal with that in my business itself.

Thank you to the member from Essex for that great question.

It’s all about being competitive in business, and I believe the member from Elgin–Middlesex–London mentioned that it’s about having a competitive edge over your competitors. It’s something that, in today’s day and age, when we’re struggling with the supply chain, when we’re struggling with staffing—to be able to focus on the business and what makes money for the business is extremely crucial, to be able to recover from the pandemic and the challenges that our economy has been going through. To remove burden, to remove that red tape that’s not needed—a lot of it is duplication—is welcome news for all business owners across Ontario.

We’re working towards creating a framework to regulate and enable the permanent geologic storage of carbon, also known as carbon sequestration, while also maintaining public safety and safeguarding the environment. I know they’re doing great work out in Alberta with this, and I think it’s time that we bring it to Ontario, because if we can sequester that carbon, we’re all going to be better off, with the climate change that’s going on.

With this bill, we’re going to make the WSIB more efficient, more streamlined, so that it’s as effective as possible. The billions of dollars that did come back to small businesses—in my travels, a lot of small businesses, during the pandemic, really needed that and appreciated that. This isn’t about taking money out of the employees’ pockets—