By: Ministry of Northern Development and Mines
Unclear or redundant regulations can often leave businesses with less time and money to conduct business activities, scale up and create new jobs. That’s why the Government of Ontario created the Red Tape Challenge – an online public consultation to help eliminate unnecessary regulations and make it easier to do business in Ontario.
The initiative has already identified many great ideas to streamline regulations in the auto parts, food processing and financial services sectors. Future Red Tape Challenge consultations will focus on chemical manufacturing, forestry and tourism sectors but, up next is mining — a sector that produced more than $10 billion in 2016 — the most of any Canadian jurisdiction, creating more than 26,000 direct jobs.
From March 31 to May 31, mineral sector companies, Indigenous communities, industry associations and the public are invited to help identify provincial regulations that are unclear, redundant and unnecessarily costly. They’re also invited to suggest ways to fix them. You can get involved by visiting ontario.ca/redtapechallenge, where you’ll find simple descriptions of the regulations that currently affect the mining sector and a platform to share your thoughts.
The Red Tape Challenge builds on the government’s ongoing efforts to ensure that the mining industry in Ontario is regulated efficiently and effectively. The province’s Mineral Development Strategy, renewed in 2015, made improving regulatory efficiency a priority. It is the result of recommendations from industry, key stakeholders, Indigenous communities, prospectors, northern communities and environmental NGOs. Through this strategy, the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines is continuing efforts to streamline mineral development regulation.
Proposed amendments to modernize Ontario’s Mining Act were also introduced in the Legislature after extensive consultation. If passed, these changes would improve how mining claims are registered and enhance the province’s global competitiveness in the mining industry. They encourage prospecting, claim registration and exploration – all keys to the future development of new mines.
Modernizing regulations is part of Ontario’s Business Growth Initiative, which is helping grow the economy and create jobs. Ontario is looking forward to hearing your ideas to further reduce regulatory burden in the mining sector.
To participate, visit ontario.ca/redtapechallenge.
