Business License Bylaw Review

This consultation has concluded, and the new business licence bylaw was passed by City Council in November 2020. The new bylaw comes into effect on May 1, 2021.

Businesses in Grande Prairie are an integral part of our vibrant, connected and inclusive community and a complete review of the Business License Bylaw is essential to meet changing regulations and business needs.

The review of the current Business License Bylaw is proposed to update practices and support the City’s vision to contribute to a healthy economy by ensuring it provides businesses and industry with clear, consistent and reasonable regulations.

The new bylaw is also proposed to help City administration to better understand the existing business landscape in the City and plan for future initiatives that support the business community by collecting more detailed information during the application process.

From the information collected, the City may release economic reports that highlight certain sectors or the overall Grande Prairie economy, these reports will not include identifying information.

The majority of businesses operating in Grande Prairie will not experience an impact or additional regulations due to the changes proposed to the Business License Bylaw.

For details on industry-specific proposed changes and an overview of data collected, please download the PDF file titled "Background Information for Proposed Changes to Business License Bylaw" from the sidebar located on the right-hand side of this page.

Survey

All business owners and members of the public are invited to participate in a short online survey located below.

Information Session
Associations, industry groups, business owners, and members of the public, are invited to attend an Information Session via Zoom:

• Date: Wednesday, September 9, 2020
• Place: Attend remotely via Zoom
• Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
• RVSP on eventbrite by Tuesday, September 8, 2020: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/business-license-bylaw-information-session-tickets-117580716087

At this Information Session you can learn about:

• proposed changes to the bylaw and their benefits,
• the purpose of licensing all businesses, and
• how we compare to other municipalities.

Background

The Business License Bylaw (Bylaw C-1064):

• governs the granting of business licenses in the City of Grande Prairie,
• indicates which industries are required to license, and
• provides additional regulations for certain business industries.

In December 2019, the City began reviewing business licensing practices in 11 other Alberta municipalities, as well as relevant legislation.

The review identified a number of improvements and updates to comply with current legislation and support economic development.

The new bylaw is proposed to:

• require all businesses to be licensed to operate in the City,
• increase the information captured through the licensing process to specify the type of businesses operating in the community, and
• provide the City with key information to support the community during an emergency response.

This approach will provide valuable data for economic development to develop industry attraction strategies and increase the clarity and transparency for businesses to stay compliant with the business licence bylaw.

Next Steps

Recommendations will be presented to City Council for consideration at an Infrastructure & Economic Development Committee meeting in the fall.