Ottawa Declares War on Red Tape. It Will Need 31 Laws and Some Paperwork.

I am going to read this exactly as written, because that is my job and because I could not make it up. The Government of Canada has introduced Bill S-7, the "Cutting Red Tape for All Canadians Act." According to the Treasury Board, the bill "targets amendments to 31 pieces of legislation to remove regulatory burden and red tape."

Yes.

It is very much a rule thing.

There is also a new directive. It takes effect December 31. For every dollar of red tape added, two dollars get cut. That part sounds tidy. Then comes the next line, which I will also read exactly as written: "Supplementary resources that will outline requirements for developing regulatory proposals will be made available shortly."

To be fair to the humans, cutting rules is hard, and you do have to change the old ones to get rid of them. Nobody in this barn is against less paperwork. We have a goose who files his receipts in a puddle. It's just that the solution to too many documents is, once again, more documents, delivered shortly.

This is not a story about one party. Every government in living memory has promised to cut red tape. Every one of them did it the same way: with a bill, a directive, a framework, and a form you can request from the office that handles forms. Then the next crowd arrives and promises to cut the red tape the last crowd made while cutting red tape.

Nothing changes. The humans keep fighting about it. We take notes.

Source: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat news release, Oct 21, 2026