Nova Scotia aims to cut red tape with ‘Making Business Easier Act’

Nova Scotia introduced the Making Business Easier Act in the legislature on Wednesday.

The Houston government rolled out the Making Business Easier Act today, promising to cut red tape and speed up approvals for businesses across several sectors and to modernize government processes.

“Nova Scotia is open for business,” said service efficiency minister Tim Halman, calling the legislation a step toward making the province a national leader in “reducing red tape.”

The Act targets several sectors and government departments with a key focus on the natural resource sector, particularly mining and development of critical minerals, which has been a focus of the Houston government since winning re-election in November.

Halman said streamlining regulations and approvals will push projects to finish faster and boost supply chains, exports, revenues and jobs, especially in rural areas.

Halman said streamlining approval processes can be done without weakening environmental protections.

“It doesn’t have to be one or the other, we can and must do both,” said Halman.

“This bill is not about eroding protections and taking shortcuts.”

Halman said the act is about improving and modernizing government to unleash the province’s tremendous economic potential.

Halman said he’s pleased with the province’s move to lift the ban on uranium mining and referenced the recent approval of a major gold mining project as a positive step but said there’s more they can do.

The legislation updates roughly 150 permits but eliminates eight permits altogether which Halman called low risk activities. Examples include licensing to forage for non-timber resources like berries and mushrooms and roadside memorial permits.

The province said this was the first time all 300 permit and licensing policies have been reviewed with the intention to streamlining and improving the processes.

This Canadian Federation of Independent Business is applauding the new legislation. Representatives said red tape has a significant impact on business.

“It’s a great first step,” said Duncan Robertson, CFIB’s director of legislative affairs in Nova Scotia. He said he’s glad to see better service standards and he’s curious to see what kind of reparations there will be if government doesn’t meet its new service standards.

“That’s the big question out of this legislation,” said Robertson. “We do want to see what the impact would be. Hopefully it’s not just a rap on the knuckles but really some incentive to ensure they are sticking to their permit timelines.”

The CFIB estimates that red tape costs Canadian businesses nearly $18 billion. The provincial government believes these legislative changes will save businesses in Nova Scotia $800,000 annually.

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