BizPaL Available in Every Yukon Community

WHITEHORSE, Yukon, June 22, 2007 — Yukon and Industry Canada jointly celebrated Yukon's success as the first jurisdiction in Canada to make BizPaL available to all residents.

Today, the Honourable Gerry Ritz, Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism), on behalf of the Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Industry, together with the Honourable Glenn Hart, Minister of the Yukon Department of Community Services, signed a multi-jurisdictional Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Canada's New Government and provinces and territories participating in the BizPaL initiative. The Governments of Canada and Yukon are pleased to sign this MOU that establishes a shared vision and investment in BizPaL to improve government services to business in Canada.

BizPaL is an innovative project designed to help Canadian businesses save time when accessing licensing and permit information. This unique partnership among federal, provincial, territorial, regional and local governments is designed to cut through the paperwork burden and red tape that small business owners encounter.

"Through BizPaL, governments across Canada are working together to provide better services for small and growing businesses," said Secretary of State Ritz. "Canada's New Government is pleased to be signing this MOU with the Yukon to promote a more competitive and productive local economy by providing easy access to essential information and reducing paperwork costs for business."

"BizPaL is an award-winning online business service that wouldn't exist without the collaboration we've seen so far from the Government of Canada and Yukon's municipalities," Minister Hart said. "In December 2005, Yukon became the first jurisdiction in Canada to launch BizPaL, and signing this MOU with Industry Canada is a demonstration of our commitment to making BizPaL work for business and to improve the service in the future."

The BizPaL system in Yukon was developed with Industry Canada support, in collaboration with the Government of Yukon.

BizPaL is available in every Yukon municipality; business owners and entrepreneurs can access the service by visiting http://www.bizpal.gov.yk.ca.

Visit http://www.bizpal.ca for additional project history and information, as well as to access the websites of participating partners.

For more information, please contact:

Todd MacKay
Office of the Honourable Gerry Ritz
Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism)
613-943-6183

Isabelle Fontaine
Office of the Honourable Maxime Bernier
Minister of Industry
613-995-9001

Media Relations
Industry Canada
613-943-2502

Doug Caldwell
Communications, Community Services
867-667-8065
doug.caldwell@gov.yk.ca

Roxanne Vallevand
Cabinet Communications
867-633-7949
roxanne.vallevand@gov.yk.ca

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Backgrounder
BizPaL Simplifies Permits and Licences for Canadian Businesses

The Government of Yukon and Canada's New Government are pleased to sign a multi-jurisdictional Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will also include other participating provinces and territories. This MOU marks a critical milestone as it formally acknowledges a shared vision and investment in the BizPaL initiative to better serve business.

BizPaL is an online service that benefits Canadian businesses by helping them identify which permits and licences are required and how to obtain them. Entrepreneurs simply answer a series of questions on the type of business they want to start or operate and the activities they plan to undertake. BizPaL then automatically generates a list of all required permits and licences from all levels of government, along with basic information on each, as well as links to government sites where the entrepreneur can learn more and, in some cases, apply online.

BizPaL also benefits governments by making it easier to provide accurate information on permits and licences to business. Although the service is offered online, it can also be used through other service channels (i.e., telephone and in-person centres) to improve services to clients.

To date, BizPaL has been launched in more than 40 cities and towns in five provinces and territories. Yukon was the first partner to launch, in December 2005, and is the only province or territory to have implemented BizPaL for all municipalities.

The development of the BizPaL project involved consultations with stakeholders in business and government. It grew out of a working group of representatives from federal departments, provincial and territorial governments, and municipal governments across Canada.

BizPaL was a commitment of Canada's New Government in Budget 2006. In November 2006, Canada's New Government released Advantage Canada, its long-term economic plan, in which it identified ways to give Canada an entrepreneurial advantage and reduce paperwork burden by 20 percent. Forging ahead, Budget 2007 committed to achieving this target by November 2008.