More than 20 initiatives that are underway or now completed will provide $23 million in savings for Nova Scotia businesses. This represents 93 per cent of government’s goal to reduce regulatory burden by $25 million by December 2018. The Office of Regulatory Affairs and Service Effectiveness released its 2017-18 annual report today, July 4th. “Making it easier to start, operate or grow a business isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do to create the conditions for economic growth,” said Premier Stephen McNeil. “We will continue to press forward with our work to reduce red tape and regulatory burden so that business owners can focus more on doing what they do best.” The office was established in 2015 to lead government’s efforts to reduce regulatory burden on business and work with government departments to make service improvements to support economic growth in Nova Scotia. In 2017-18, the business navigation service helped more than 1,800 business clients, mostly small and startup companies, saving each client an average of 10 hours. The service is on track to serve 3,000 businesses by year’s end, collectively saving these clients an estimated $2.5 million. To learn more about this award-winning service and how it has helped Nova Scotia business owners, you can watch a video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr9M38bGVjw&feature=youtu.be .You can read more about these actions in the annual report at https://novascotia.ca/regulatoryopportunity/report.asp .Source: Release