Conservatives will take blue scissors to red tape

Statement from Gavin Dew, MLA for Kelowna–Mission, on CFIB’s Red Tape Awareness Week 

During CFIB’s Red Tape Awareness Week, small businesses across British Columbia are looking for real action, not more perfunctory lip service. 

More than 98 percent of businesses in British Columbia are small businesses, creating 55% of all private-sector jobs. When small business struggles, the entire economy feels it. British Columbia has consistently recorded some of the weakest small-business confidence in Canada, and we are facing generationally high youth unemployment. 

That should make red-tape reduction a pressing priority, not something pushed to the back burner. For many entrepreneurs, regulatory burden is as much of a drag on growth as taxes, even sometimes worse, as it consumes time, energy, and attention that could otherwise be spent serving customers and creating jobs and opportunities. 

The NDP pay lip service to ease of doing business while shutting down things that would make a difference. This government has shown an ongoing reluctance to listen to the people doing the hiring, paying the bills, and taking the risks. 

The NDP sidelined the Small Business Roundtable after last convening it in February 2024, despite the Roundtable’s long track record of serious work, including a major 2018 report and other practical recommendations to remove real, fixable barriers. 

After nearly two years of silence, Minister Kahlon formally shut down the Roundtable on December 30, 2025. In a letter, he told members it had been replaced by the Trade and Economic Security Task Force, which he claimed would provide a timely and strong voice with government. That task force was quietly disbanded in August 2025. 

Minister Kahlon’s letter also cites his government’s Ease of Doing Business initiative, which is little more than a glorified Google form. Instead of acting on countless warnings and recommendations, the government has leaned on a generic submission portal that cuts out experienced partners like Chambers of Commerce and business associations that have been doing the hard work on red-tape reduction for decades. 

This was a choice, not an accident. Replacing structured dialogue with a digital suggestion box is not engagement. This is why business associations and structured tables matter: they do the hard work of synthesis, turning scattered and time-constrained feedback into clear, actionable advice government can use. 

“Small businesses don’t need another inbox; they need a seat at the table and a government that listens. We will bring back the Small Business Roundtable, give it teeth, and act on its recommendations so entrepreneurs can spend less time fighting red tape and more time creating jobs.” ~~ Gavin Dew, MLA for Kelowna–Mission 

Small businesses are not asking for special treatment. They’re asking for respect for their time, genuine engagement, and a government that understands red tape can be just as damaging as higher taxes. Red tape is real. Small businesses deserve a government that takes it seriously, and acts to make it better.