Bill to cut red tape actually creates more red tape, opposition says

Alberta's United Conservative government introduced a bill Wednesday to cut regulations it believes slow business growth.

But the NDP Official Opposition says Bill 4, theRed Tape Reduction Act, is "an empty shell" that creates red tape by giving cabinet powers to create more regulations.

The bill, introduced Wednesday in the legislature, would compel the associate minister of red tape reduction to table an annual report on how he has cut "unnecessary regulatory and administrative requirements."

Premier Jason Kenney said 17 regulations have already been cut by cabinet, and the government plans to compile a list and post it online.

"We want to create a sense of positive competition within different ministers to meet the goal," he said.

But the NDP said the bill doesn't set out any quotas, timelines or criteria for what constitutes an unnecessary regulation, though Kenney seemed open to amending the bill to include a definition.

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Chris Nielsen, the NDP critic for red tape reduction, suggested the bill creates more red tape by adding reporting requirements and giving cabinet the power to create more regulations.

Nielsen said he is also concerned with the lack of transparency.

"Albertans should be able to see almost in real time what regulations they are potentially cutting and how that may affect them and right now we're not seeing anything," he said.

Kenney said the changes already made should have been made public through the orders in council, which are published a couple of days after each cabinet meeting.

When told they hadn't been included, he committed to making them public.