The Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (CIAC) congratulates the Ontario government and the Hon. Nina Tangri, Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction, on the release of the latest regulatory burden reduction actions, the Supporting People and Business Fall 2021 package.

“CIAC supports the Ontario government’s commitment to streamline duplicate regulations that impact the competitiveness of the chemical manufacturing,” said Don Fusco, CIAC Director, Government and Stakeholder Relations, Ontario.  “These measures that affect the chemistry sector will eliminate unnecessary cost, complexity and time, while protecting our health and the environment.”

Among the initiatives contained in the Supporting People and Business Fall 2021 package, CIAC is pleased to see the province:

• Commitment to consult on opportunities to recover the value from waste through advanced recycling and energy recovery technologies.
• Modernize Environmental Compliance Approvals by proposing to allow businesses the option to consolidate environmental permissions for the same facility into a single approval.
• Streamline environmental permissions for projects where environmental risks are low to allow more resources to be dedicated to processing more complex approvals.
• Usage of the Flexible Environmental Compliance Approval to give businesses greater flexibility to operate and make changes that do not compromise existing approval thresholds.
• Update references to engineers to give other qualified engineers the ability to provide advice and certification.
• Simplifying the skilled trades and apprenticeship system to access services, registrations and equivalency assessments.

Ontario’s $26-billion chemistry industry is the third largest manufacturing industry and second largest exporting sector in the province. Overall, the chemistry sector directly employs 42,000 Ontarians in well-paying jobs and supports another 210,000 jobs in other sectors. The chemistry sector provides important inputs to a range of manufacturing sectors including automotive, forestry, construction, and food and beverage. The industry is global and Ontario’s chemical manufacturers must compete both for market share and investment.

CIAC is pleased to continue to work with the government on the many priorities to modernize business regulations to be outcome-focused and evidence-based while continuing to protect the public interest.

For more details on CIAC’s efforts to help streamline regulatory burden for the Ontario chemistry industry, please see our 2021 Red Tape Reduction Report – Taking Stock of Progress Made and Continuing Efforts.