Red Tape Task Force Member Martin Harder is commending the Provincial Government for its recent actions toward reducing the number of regulatory requirements.

Harder who is also the Mayor of Winkler said the Government has committed to taking two requirements out for everyone added, "that is the most aggressive commitment that any Provincial Government across Canada has made."

Regulatory requirements are actions or steps a government requires of non-profits, businesses, municipalities and private citizens in order to access government programs or services, participate in regulated activities, or conduct business in the province.

This new legislation, The Regulatory Accountability Act, requires that a comprehensive baseline count be completed and maintained across government including departments, Crown corporations, the Workers Compensation Board, and most agencies and boards. The government recently took the time to find 906,824 regulatory requirements in 12,393 documents.

"It's actually a really overwhelming number," said Harder. "When you think of the number of regulations that are in existence today and the number of documents pertain to those regulations, you can tell how difficult it's to wade through the system."

According to Harder these first few steps are going to be beneficial to the Province. He added this is an opportunity for the Government to go through the steps and find either duplicate or regulations which can be combined into one.