Through Regulatory Reform we continue to modernize the province's regulatory environment to make it easier for businesses to do business in British Columbia and for citizens to access provincial programs and services. We want citizens and business to spend less time dealing with government and more time on what is really important — enjoying life, growing their businesses and creating more jobs.

Key aspects of our strategy to reduce the regulatory burden on British Columbians include:

• Leadership. The Minister of Small Business and Revenue continues to champion Regulatory Reform with the Regulatory Reform office maintaining responsibility for implementing the initiative.
  
  
• Setting a target and reporting progress. Government set a new goal of a
  zero-net increase, against the June 2004 results, in the province's regulatory requirements through 2012. This means for every new regulatory requirement introduced, requirements in other areas must be streamlined and simplified. We continue to report our progress against the target.
  
  
• Managing the regulatory burden. All ministries and agencies develop three-year plans as part of their service planning. The plans identify how they will encourage prosperity, innovation and opportunity through regulatory requirements, while preserving those that protect public health, safety and the environment.

We are also:

• Creating a culture of innovation and continuous improvement. This includes developing new tools and approaches to regulation and to establishing a community of interest in regulatory best practice.
  
  
• Examining processes across government. Ministries and agencies are taking on projects aimed at streamlining processes to save citizens and businesses time accessing services and understanding and complying with government requirements.
  
  
• Establishing new partnerships across jurisdictions to address common goals including the reduction of red tape and elimination of overlap and duplication.
  
  
• Targeting efforts on sectors and areas of regulation that most heavily impact businesses and citizens.
  
  
• Consulting with stakeholders to further improve the regulatory environment.