Red Tape, one-year on: “Progress, but not enough”
Action on over half of recommendations after first year

MEDIA RELEASE:

WINNIPEG June 27, 2006 - One year after the conclusion of the Mayor’s Red Tape Commission, Mayor Sam Katz is pleased that progress has been made on the Commission’s recommendations ─ but he also agrees that much more must be done before Winnipeg can claim victory over red tape.

“We should be flattered that cities like Ottawa have chosen to learn from the experience of Winnipeg’s Red Tape Commission,” Katz said, “but City Hall has to learn to improve service more rapidly if we are going to get full value from the Commission’s work.”

With that caution, Katz said that “the City’s response to Commission recommendations has already delivered important results.”

In particular, he noted that:

• Winnipeg’s hated Entertainment Tax was simplified from a 27 page bylaw to 5 pages as recommended, delivering a $300,000 tax cut to citizens and eliminating mountains of paperwork for ticket retailers, fundraisers, arts venues and arts groups across the City (Recommendation 7).
• The City is moving forward to create a 311 customer service system, and Councillors are expected to review a final business plan for the system within weeks. The Commission recommended a formal decision and quick action to implement this customer-friendly system, which had been considered by City Hall but never formally endorsed (Recommendation 25).
• On June 28, Council will consider the first of several major recommendations on permits and development (Recommendation 12). If the final report is approved by Council, rules requiring permits for several basic structures will be eliminated entirely, and permits will no longer be needed for $10,000 or less worth of structural work (the existing exemption is $1,000).
• Large festivals can now apply for permits with a single form, where they used to have to apply individually to separate departments (Recommendation 19). Negotiations to develop a paperwork-killing “community management lease” for not-for-profit conservation groups began earlier this year (Recommendation 17).
• Several sub-recommendations in the Report have been implemented, including recommendations to improve the tax appeals process for ratepayers.

“We’ve logged approvals, work is underway, or there is action on 18 of the Commission’s 30 recommendations,” Katz said. “But I share the business community’s view that we still have work to do to achieve fundamental change,” he said.

“For the City’s 1997 Red Tape Review Panel, ‘work underway’ meant their ideas died on the order paper, so I need to see more of the 2005 Commission’s ideas implemented entirely,” he said, noting that the Commission itself felt a sea change in the City’s service culture was more important than any particular recommendation.

“I expect to see several key changes made before September to further demonstrate our own, and our Administration’s commitment to cut red tape for citizens, community groups, businesses and public servants.”