Businesses win big time with BizPal

Complying with complex government licensing requirements can be a challenge for most startup companies.

BizPal wants to change that.

The new online business service is designed to simplify and speed up the permits and licensing (P&L) process and, in doing so, to save firms time, labour, money – and hassle.

BizPal is one of the very few systems in Canada that integrates government at every level — municipal, territorial, provincial and federal. While its principal beneficiaries are businesses — all the way from one-person outfits to large companies — governments stand to gain as well.

Billed as a service that takes government online (GOL) to the next level, BizPal serves as a one-stop shop for P&L facts and stats. It offers entrepreneurs 24/7 Web access to such information from all three levels of government simultaneously.

The data is comprehensive and customized for a specific business activity in a specific location.

The BizPal pilot – already off the ground – involves a multi-jurisdictional alliance. Municipal partners are Whitehorse, Kamloops, and the Halton region. Provincial/territorial players include the Yukon, British Columbia and Ontario. Industry Canada is the federal representative.

David Trawin describes BizPal as “a win for businesses, government and the Canadian public.” Trawin is director of development and engineering services with the city of Kamloops, B.C.

Until the advent of BizPal, he said, there was no single P&L source for businesses. “No one jurisdiction could identify all the permits and licenses required by a business. It could specify its own requirements, not those of other jurisdictions also involved in the licensing process.”

He said with a new business launched in Canada every two minutes, this absence of a centralized P&L information hub was a real challenge, especially as many businesses must meet regulatory requirements of multiple levels of government. “For example, opening a restaurant in Ontario can require 26 licenses and permits from all three levels of government.”

Trawin said small businesses – which comprise 98 per cent of all Canadian businesses and generate 24 per cent of the GDP – are disproportionately affected, as they are less likely to have the financial resources to deal with such regulatory requirements. “In addition, the time needed for compliance may interfere with core start up activities and divert resources that could potentially be used for the business.”