Amid trade turmoil, Ontario government mulls sweeping overhaul of permits [Video]

Amid unprecedented trade turmoil, Ontario’s governing Progressive Conservatives are keen to cut red tape in the provincial economy with Premier Doug Ford and his finance minister signalling that permits, and their bureaucratic hurdles, have fallen squarely in their sights.

During a recent visit to Orillia, Ont., Ford spoke about the impact “the red tape, the bureaucracy” and ultimately, permitting, can have on getting important projects to the finish line.

“Let’s not take three or four years to get a permit,” Ford said during a news conference on April 4. “Let’s not put the barriers up because there’s a grasshopper in a field and everyone has to stop and wait for that grasshopper — it’s ridiculous.”

CBC News has obtained internal draft government documents recommending a sweeping review of permits in Ontario, proposing to transform or eliminate all permits issued at the provincial and municipal levels within a year.

“Permitting in Ontario is …