With the goal of increasing business owners' chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has brought back their Red Tape Awareness Week for its 11th year.

This week's lineup includes the 2020 Paperweight Awards, which highlights some of the most ridiculous examples of red tape from across the country.

Last year Moose Jaw a recipient of the Paperweight Award for how the city handled the construction on High Street.

CFIB member and owner of Water Vision Services Don McKenzie recalled the issues surrounding the construction.

"Once it started they never even came into our store, they never talked to us, never sent us notices, didn't help us," McKenzie said. "They wre more a hindrance than a help."

The CFIB will also release the federal and provincial government grades in their annual report card, as well as issuing governments their red tape challenge, and recognizing government and public servants who have done an exceptional job cutting unnecessary red tape.

Jennifer Henshaw is the CFIB's Senior Policy Analyst for the prairie region.

"The entire point of Red Tape Awareness Week is to shine a light on those bad 'Red Tape headaches' that need to be fixed and in the actual Paperweight [Awards] write-up, we recommend those solutions. It really is an opportunity for the government to sit up, take note of what needs to be fixed, and to learn from other provinces as well as to what they're doing to cut red tape for residents and small business owners."

McKenzie said CFIB was very helpful when it come it issues with the City of Moose Jaw.

"In the last couple years, they were really instrumental with us getting help through the city, on High Street and they even got High Street voted as the worst road in all of Canada," he said.

The CFIB has 110,000 members, 5,200 of which are in Saskatchewan. Henshaw says there is no shortage of calls and concerns from their members.

"We get calls on a daily basis from our members about those headaches. We always say "Business owners don't call us when governments are doing a great job. They call us when they are stuck in 'voicemail jail' while trying to call the CRA. They call us when they are having a seriously confusing time trying to understand a PST bulletin. They call us when they cant get live people on the phone. Those are the kinds of stories we hear from our business owners."

McKenzie outlined some of the benefits he's found from being a member of CFIB.

"There is a lot of good information that they have if we wnat help with communicating with the province or the federal government," he said. "They will assign somebody to us and they will help cut through the red tape."

For more information on the CFIB or Red Tape Awareness Week, you can visit CFIB.ca, or CFIB.ca/RedTape.