Your Alberta Blog

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting with Strathcona County Mayor Cathy Olesen and Fort Saskatchewan Mayor Jim Sheasgreen to launch BizPaL, a joint federal-provincial-municipal program, in their communities.

BizPaL is an online tool that lets aspiring business owners search for all the licences and permits they need from the federal, provincial and municipal governments. The federal government designed BizPaL, the Alberta government pays the annual licensing cost for the program, and municipal governments sign onto it. It's an excellent example of the different levels of government working across jurisdictions to provide better service. And it got me to thinking about how government delivers services to people.

When you're inside government, jurisdiction is important: which government is responsible for what areas? It sounds like a simple enough question, but governments have battled over the answer in court.

I'm not suggesting we don't need well-defined roles for the different levels of government. But I'm willing to bet the average person is more concerned that services are delivered effectively.

BizPaL is not the only example of governments working together to improve services.

Alberta recently announced a joint-initiative with B.C. that lets corporations register in both provinces by dealing only with their home province. And last December, we unveiled a form that allows new parents to register their child's birth with the Alberta government and at the same time apply to the federal government for a Social Insurance Number.

These might seem like small steps, but they take a lot of political and bureaucratic will behind the scenes. Changes like that can sometimes require rewriting legislation and regulations, as well as the willingness to work across jurisdictions.

I would like to hear what areas you think we can improve upon by working together. I believe there are more opportunities for our governments, as long as we focus on what matters most - improving services to people.

- Hon. Heather Klimchuk, Minister of Service Alberta