Andrea Khanjin

Andrea Khanjin has served as Ontario's Minister of Red Tape Reduction — a portfolio that sounds like exactly what small business owners have been begging for. The reality of the role has been more modest than the branding suggests. Ontario remains one of the most expensive and bureaucratically complex provinces in which to operate a business. Permitting timelines for construction, renovation, and new business development consistently exceed what comparable jurisdictions require. Building permit processes — which should be measured in weeks — routinely take months or years. Regulatory compliance costs for small businesses have not meaningfully declined. The housing supply crisis is directly tied to the bureaucratic friction in development approvals that falls squarely within the red tape reduction mandate. The ministry publishes annual "red tape reduction" reports counting the number of regulatory requirements removed. These metrics rarely translate into the lived experience of a restaurateur waiting four months for a liquor licence amendment or a contractor navigating contradictory municipal and provincial building code requirements. There is a real job to do here — regulatory modernization that makes Ontario more competitive, more affordable to build in, and more functional for the small business owners who employ millions. The job has not been done with the urgency or effectiveness that Ontario's economic challenges demand. When someone tells you they've been cutting red tape for three years and the costs of doing business keep rising, you have to start asking whether the scissors are real.