THE NOVA SCOTIA GOVERNMENT is loosening its purse strings. In an effort to reduce red tape, streamline services to business and enhance efficiency, Business Minister Mark Furey has announced that the province’s business development agency, Nova Scotia Business Inc. (NSBI), now has greater power to sign off on deals.

Specifically, NSBI can ink agreements up to $5 million in value, including the popular payroll rebates. Previously, the threshold was $3 million. Deals above the $5-million mark will have to be approved by the minister. Proposals for more than $10 million will require cabinet approval.

The new regulations, which now are in effect, will change the landscape for businesses and the NSBI significantly. If this arrangement had been in place during the past two fiscal years, nine of the 16 transactions approved through the Nova Scotia Business Fund would have fallen under NSBI’s authority. Staff also could have signed off on 23 of the 28 payroll rebates granted to companies such as Conifer Financial Services LLC. Conifer, a New York-based international financial consulting firm, recently announced that it is expanding its global footprint with international growth that includes Nova Scotia.

The government’s largesse is both expected and surprising. As a province driven by small business, there has been tremendous pressure on Premier Stephen McNeil and his ministers to make startups, expansion and branching out easier for companies. Most recently, McNeil announced the formation of a joint office with New Brunswick, the Joint Regulatory and Service Effectiveness Office, the aim of which is to make interaction with government on both sides of the provincial border faster and less frequent, and to foster economic growth.

“We want to become one of the most competitive and prosperous business climates in Canada,” McNeil says. “To do that, we have to remove obstacles and increase regulatory predictability so businesses are confident in making investments in our region.”

At the same time that McNeil’s Liberals are cutting away at red tape, they also are decentralizing economic development activities and dispersing related programs far and wide. Earlier this year, the government axed the Department of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism (DERDT) as part of the 2015 budget.

In the DERDT’s stead, the government has created the Department of Business, described as a “new, lean central agency focused on creating the right conditions for the private sector to grow the economy and create jobs.” Despite the ebullient promise of brighter days ahead, the department seems to have only two key program and funding areas: community economic- development investment funds and accountability reporting. All other programs that once fell under the DERDT have been scattered across other government departments, including to the NSBI.

Business will applaud the latest announcement about the new thresholds, and NSBI already is conducting business as unusual. The increased financial limits, however, are not without scrutiny. In announcing the regulations, the government made clear the minister still has the authority to amend or axe any deal – or department.

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