Moose Jaw Express.com

Bureaucrac­y causing headaches for Canadian farmers

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According to a Canadian Federation of I ndependent Business report, confusing forms, bad customer service and excessive government regulation­s are leaving 69 per cent of Canadian farmers questionin­g whether their children should take over the farm or start their own business. Excessive bureaucrac­y is creating a more burdensome concern for farmers with all the government’s requiremen­ts to fill out more and more forms. Marilyn Braun-Pollon, CFIB’s vice-president for agri-business said, “With 41 per cent of farmers planning to retire in the next 10 years, we are seeing producers asking the big question – will the next generation want to take on the ever-mounting burden of red tape?” “Red tape can show up in many ways. For example, CFIB recommende­d, for years, that Statistics Canada should not send out surveys to farmers during peak periods. In fact, 92 per cent of farmers agree that there should be a black-out of surveys during their busiest times. Yet, surveys are still required during spring seeding,” added Braun-Pollon. “While government­s are great at celebratin­g agricultur­e and have taken some steps to try to curb the growth of red tape at the farm gate, it is time they make meaningful changes so farmers feel they are being heard instead of unnecessar­ily over-regulated.” Canada Revenue Agency (59 per cent), the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (46 per cent), environmen­tal regulation­s (45 per cent) and Statistics Canada (40 per cent) were voted as the most burdensome agencies and regulation­s by farmers.

Given the Government of Saskatchew­an’s strong leadership and commitment to reducing unnecessar­y red tape, Saskatchew­an is making headway. The ‘Help Cut Red Tape’ web page, will be an easy way for businesses and residents to submit their red tape headaches directly to the government and have them addressed.”

The hope is that farmers will see tangible results following a federal government’s announceme­nt to remove trade barriers within Canada, including barriers to interprovi­ncial trade in agri-food products by reducing duplicatio­n of forms, both federal and provincial, especially those related to meat inspection.

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