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While Saskatchewan continues to earn high marks from business for cutting red tape, information about outstanding regulatory frustrations remains hidden while it slinks through the bureaucratic process.

It’s been one year since the province set up its “help cut red tape” web portal. Unveiled with much fanfare at a Regina dry cleaner, the website was billed as a way to collect feedback on outstanding irritants that lead to added costs or delays.

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Since then, the website has attracted 2,684 visits from outside government, but only a trickle of complaints. There were 44 reports of red tape irritants as of Dec. 31, 2019. According to the government, 36 have since been “resolved,” though that does not necessarily mean they resulted in regulatory changes.

The number also includes cases that were forwarded to the federal government.

Jeremy Harrison, minister of trade and export development, still called 44 a “substantial number of submissions” and noted the government continues to review regulation through several bodies, committees and talks with business.