New French-language commercial signage rules continue to cause concern for Que. businesses


Representatives of the Quebec business community are criticizing the measures introduced by the government to protect French.


In an open letter sent to a Montreal daily, economic organizations – the Retail Council of Canada (RCC), the Conseil du Patronat du Québec (CPQ), the Association québécoise de la quincaillerie et des matériaux de construction, Manufacturiers et Exportateurs du Québec, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec – asked the Legault government to review its position on the issue.


In their view, the French-language rules on commercial signage would force businesses to make changes that would often be difficult to put in place within two weeks.


“Unfeasible in such a short space of time,” argued Michel Rochette, president of the RCC’s Quebec section and spokesperson for the group behind the letter.


The letter’s authors said that “the government had promised a three-year deadline for the implementation of rules which, to date, have still not been adopted.”


While Bill 96 was finally passed in 2022, some of the measures concerning businesses, the “rules of the game,” as Rochette calls them, were only tabled in January this year.


Their final version has not yet been adopted.


His conclusion is, therefore, simple: “We can’t make any changes until we have the rules.”


The deadline for compliance with Quebec’s new regulations is June 1.


On that date, any mention of “on/off” on a button would be banned under the provisions of Bill 96, as would “play” on any player and many other words that were not yet subject to the French rule because they did not relate to the safe use of a product.


The logistical challenge of the adaptation period is a real concern for the co-signatories of Saturday’s open letter.


But the problem is broader.


According to Rochette, outdoor advertising will also turn into a logistical nightmare.


“Quebec businesses already went through an entire transformation, which was completed barely five years ago, of all outdoor signage for businesses,” says Mr Rochette. “Now, the regulations tell us that we have to go through a new phase of change. So all the signs that have been modified will have to be redesigned in an even shorter timeframe.”


The RCC chairman pointed out that signage is also subject to constraints set by municipalities

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New money laundering rules hurt small business

As if the impact of the pandemic, high inflation, high interest rates and supply chain shortages weren’t enough of a drag, the Trudeau government has jumped in with a thick new layer of red tape that will hold small businesses back all across the country.

Here’s the deal. When businesses across the country set up shop and start a new relationship with a bank, they have to go through a long and detailed screening process for the sake of preventing money laundering.

Until very recently, payroll software programs like Quickbooks and FreshBooks could deposit payroll funds into a business’s account and then, in turn, pay the business’s employees through that account without having to go through an additional anti-money laundering screening process. That’s because the business already goes through those protocols upon opening its account with the bank. But the federal government decided to change that. New regulations, which were written up in a rush to clamp down on crowdfunding, will force payroll software companies like Quickbooks and FreshBooks to ensure that the anti-money laundering process occurs twice: once when a business sets up its account with a bank, and a second time before payroll funds are deposited into a business’s account to pay employees.

While the federal government claims it’s all about preventing money laundering, in reality this is government regulation gone wild. These new rules simply duplicate the anti-money laundering process, leading to more paperwork, more working hours lost to red tape and frustration for mom and pop shop owners all across the country. This change does nothing more than hold small businesses back.

The new rules also represent a barrier to the creation of new small businesses. All of this new red tape could mean businesses can’t get off the ground. Some might even choose to operate in cash just to avoid a boatload of complicated and needless regulations. And even if new small businesses do want to go through all this hassle, the cost of using payroll software will soar, as adding burdensome anti-money laundering protocols will force payroll companies to increase prices.

Small businesses are being hammered with needless new regulations at exactly the wrong time. Some are just starting to get off their feet after the pandemic. No less than 740,000 jobs were lost among small businesses thanks to the pandemic and related lockdowns and closures. Some businesses are gone forever, and others are

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