And the winner of the Golden Scissors Award is...

TORONTO, January 19, 2012 - With Red Tape Awareness Week^TM coming to a close, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has announced the winner of the inaugural Golden Scissors Award. The new annual award recognizes an individual who has successfully motivated or demonstrated leadership and courage, and produced meaningful and positive results in cutting red tape for small business.

And the winner is: the Honourable Kevin Falcon, B.C. Minister of Finance, for cutting red tape for small business by more than 40% and entrenching systemic and unprecedented reforms through the Regulatory Reporting Act. 

'Minister Falcon has clearly continued to demonstrate the small-business and customer-focused values we were looking to celebrate with this new award. Hopefully, recognizing those individuals who are leaders in cutting red tape will help draw attention to the need for more policy-makers across the country to find innovative and results-driven approaches to regulatory reform', says Laura Jones, CFIB's Senior Vice-President, Research and Economics. 

A panel of judges, comprised of four senior-level CFIB employees representing all regions of the country as well as one small business member, unanimously chose the winner from dozens of nominations received from across Canada.  The winner will receive a special trophy, framed certificate, and recognition on the CFIB website, Facebook page, and other member communication.

The judges also awarded three honourable mentions (in no particular order) who will receive a framed certificate to recognize their achievement: 

• Hon. Jean-Pierre Blackburn (Minister of National Revenue, Ottawa, 2008 to 2010) for implementing a new policy that required Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) business-line call centre staff to provide an individual-specific ID number at the start of each call.
• Hon. Maxime Bernier (Minister of Industry, Government of Canada, 2006 to 2007) and Hon. Diane Ablonczy (Minister of State, Small Business and Tourism, Government of Canada, 2007 to 2010) for the development and launch of the BizPaL project.
• His Worship Frank Leonard (Mayor of Saanich), His Worship Stewart Young (Mayor of Langford), Paul Murray (Director of Finance, City of Saanich), and David Duke (now retired Municipal Administrator, City of Saanich) for the creation of a system of regional business licenses in the Capital Region District surrounding Victoria, B.C.

More details about the red tape cutting achievements of the winner and the honourable mentions, as well as photos of the award/certificate presentations, can be found at www.cfib.ca/redtape

To arrange an interview with Laura Jones, CFIB's Senior Vice-President, Research and Economics, please contact Meghan Carrington at 416 222-8022 or public.affairs@cfib.ca. 

Red Tape Awareness Week^TM, conducted annually, is trade-marked by the CFIB.

About Canadian Federation of Independent Business - CFIB
As Canada’s largest association of small- and medium-sized businesses, CFIB is Powered by Entrepreneurs™. Established in 1971, CFIB takes direction from more than 108,000 members in every sector nationwide, giving independent business a strong and influential voice at all levels of government and helping to grow the economy.