A Minister Who Delivers

For this special small business issue Professional Accountant Magazine sat down with Ontario’s Minister of Red Tape Reduction, Andrea Khanjin, at her constituency office in Barrie for a wide-ranging conversation on regulatory modernization, the province’s small business agenda, and where the accounting profession fits into that work. Joining the conversation were Zubair Choudhry, Publisher of Professional Accountant Magazine, and Michael Saniga, Editor, who opened by outlining the magazine’s mandate: launched last October to fill a gap left by other accounting publications, it aims to bridge professional accountants, entrepreneurs, and policymakers through constructive, non-partisan reporting on the issues shaping the profession.

Zubair: Minister, since taking on the red tape reduction portfolio, what accomplishments are you most proud of, and how do you measure their impact on businesses and families across Ontario?

Minister Khanjin: Red tape reduction is a kitchen table issue, a business issue, a Canadian issue we don’t want to be stuck in the past. Premier Ford expects every minister of red tape reduction to report on two key performance indicators: money saved and time saved for people and businesses. To date, we’ve saved people 1.8 million hours. Time is something we can’t buy back, so if the government can give people that time, it translates into quality of life, innovation, and happiness. On the money side, red tape reduction alone has saved businesses $1.3 billion, and that number keeps growing because we’re continually introducing red tape reduction bills. If you add in tax reductions and other measures, total savings for business and industry come to about $12 billion but the $1.3 billion is regulatory reform alone.

We’ve saved businesses $1.3 billion through red tape reduction alone — and if you add in tax reductions and other measures, total savings for business and industry come to about $12 billion.

Michael: Can you put some color around where your ministry has been focusing, and what Ontario small businesses should look forward to?

Minister Khanjin: I represent Barrie and Innisfil, where small businesses are the lifeblood of the community, and that holds true across Canada. Early on, we simplified processes through ServiceOntario taking a thirty-page application and reducing it to five or ten pages, based directly on feedback from businesses and chambers of commerce. We’ve applied that thinking across sectors: reducing licensing paperwork in agriculture, introducing AI scribe tools in healthcare so doctors can spend less time on notes and more time with patients, integrating transit fare systems so people use one app instead of three, and updating outdated trucking regulations to move goods more efficiently. A lot of it comes down to updating rules that were written for a different century daycare approval is a good example, where a business owner shouldn’t have to navigate the Ministry of Environment, the municipality, and multiple other avenues just to open their doors.

Zubair: That really captures the philosophy: time saved, money saved, productivity improved. Any regulation or law that falls under those three categories tends to make the government’s job easier.

Michael: Those numbers are impressive. Where do the ideas themselves come from?

Minister Khanjin: From all kinds of places the shop floor, the business storefront, the farmers’ market. We also run a digital portal, open 24/7, where people can submit ideas a little more anonymously. Industry groups weigh in too, from the forestry sector to manufacturers to chambers of commerce and boards of trade. We cast the net wide because red tape affects everybody. I also do my fair share of sectoral roundtables, and a lot of great ideas have come out of those conversations directly with industry.

Zubair: Turning to small and medium-sized enterprises specifically, what targeted initiative is your ministry advancing to make it easier for SMEs to start up and scale?

Minister Khanjin: We’re undertaking the largest permit review in the province’s history — we’ve identified roughly 350 economic permits in Ontario, and we’re aiming to transform about 35 percent of them. For each one, we’re asking: is it outdated? Is it redundant? Can it be digitized, or moved from a permit to something like a “permit by rule,” where you register your intent and get to work, with real consequences if you break the rules? None of this compromises safety, the environment, or our commitments to Indigenous partners it’s about simplifying without cutting corners. We’re also building a platform so businesses can track exactly where their permit application sits in the queue, which gives them the certainty they need to plan an expansion or secure financing from a bank.

We’re undertaking the largest permit review in the province’s history with about 350 economic permits, with a goal of transforming 35 percent of them, without compromising safety or the environment.

Michael: Professional accountants are often the first point of contact for small business owners, the butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers who aren’t necessarily process-oriented on the administrative side. How can accountants play a role in red tape reduction?

Minister Khanjin: Bring your ideas both from your professional experience and your personal life. One of the first things our government did in an early budget came directly from the manufacturing and accounting world: allowing businesses to write off equipment sooner, which saved small businesses real money. That was an accounting idea. Accountants deal in the day-to-day detail of what’s actually holding businesses back, and a lot of the next wave of ideas, especially around getting Ontario’s food and agriculture products to market is going to come from the accountants working with those businesses every day. I’d say small businesses are the backbone of our economy, but accountants are the unseen heroes behind the scenes making sure those businesses run smoothly.

Accountants deal in the day-to-day detail of what’s actually holding businesses back. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, but accountants are the unseen heroes behind the scenes.

Zubair: I want to raise something directly relevant to our readers. Ontario’s accounting profession is effectively divided in two: public accounting, which is regulated under the CPA Act and covers audit and review engagements, and compilation work the day-to-day filings, tax compliance, and advisory services that most small businesses rely on. That work is done by Registered Professional Accountants, and it remains unregulated. We’re not asking for a new regulatory burden. We simply seek title protection, so that RPAs are recognized as accessible, affordable, ethical, and competent, and so the designation can’t be encroached on by others down the line.

Minister Khanjin: I appreciate you raising it, and I want to be upfront about where my mandate sits. I’m in the business of removing regulations, and my focus from the Premier is on finding efficiencies and reducing red tape, not creating new designations. That said, this government doesn’t want to say no to good ideas, and one tool we have used in red tape reduction legislation is the “as of right” principle allowing professionals licensed in one province, like doctors and nurses, to be accredited in Ontario within two business days. We’ve done that for the skilled trades and Red Seal workers. We haven’t yet done it for accountants, but it may be worth looking at as a path toward more labour mobility across provinces.

We’re in the business of removing regulations. That said, we’ve used the ‘as of right’ principle to give professionals licensed in one province faster accreditation in Ontario. We haven’t done that for accountants yet, but it may be worth looking at.

Michael: One thing the red tape ministry must watch for is whether regulation itself is perpetuating anti-competitive environments. Right now, CPA holds something close to a monopoly position in this province. I say that as a CPA myself, I see the benefits, but I also see that small and mid-sized accountants don’t always have a level playing field.

Minister Khanjin: That’s a fair point, and part of why we’re always looking at where common sense can be brought back into policymaking including around labour mobility and professional recognition.

Michael: You’ve also introduced AI directly into the regulatory process. How does that work?

Minister Khanjin: Ontario was the first province in Canada to use AI within government for this purpose, through a tool we call Regi AI regulatory intelligence. It doesn’t displace people; it complements the work of policy analysts. We originally built it to search legislation for outdated language, and it found things like references to CD-ROMs and fax machines still embedded in regulation. In one case, it helped us identify a rule requiring print-newspaper notification for something as simple as a golf course spraying for weeds even in municipalities with no local newspaper. We changed that regulation to allow digital notification. Eventually, the tool will be able to identify duplication across ministries entirely. It’s dealing with laws and regulations, not personal data, so it’s a genuinely safe way for the government to work smarter.

Regi AI doesn’t displace people; it complements the work of policy analysts. It’s dealing with laws and regulations, not personal data, so it’s a genuinely safe way for the government to work smarter.

Zubair: I’d add that the Ontario Business Registry has been transformative for accountants and entrepreneurs alike. What used to be a multi-day process to incorporate a business and open a bank account can now happen within an hour. Ontario sets the tone for the rest of the country on policy direction like this, which is exactly why formal recognition for RPAs matters not just for Ontario, but as a standard other provinces, and eventually other countries, could follow.

Zubair: Before we close, can you tell us what drew you to public service?

Minister Khanjin: I was born in the former Soviet Union and came to Canada with my grandparents almost by chance, through a mini vacation to Cuba during a civil war back home, and a chance meeting with a snowbird from Barrie who helped them get plane tickets. When we landed, my grandmother instilled in me the value of giving back. She volunteered constantly, worked the front desk at the YMCA, and if she had an opinion, she’d write a letter to the editor rather than just complain. She always told me: don’t just complain about something, go do something about it. That’s really the foundation of everything I’ve done since, including as an elected official making sure people feel a genuine sense of belonging in their community.