Creating a business‑friendly regulatory climate is essential to building a thriving local economy. At the Southeast Alberta Chamber of Commerce, our long‑standing policy on Creating a Business‑Friendly Regulatory Environment emphasizes the need to reduce red tape, streamline development processes, and support a municipal culture that is truly “Open for Business.” 

This is why our Chamber was pleased to hear that the City of Medicine Hat’s Planning & Development Services (PDS) team launched a new customer service survey, offering multiple ways for residents, developers, and business owners to share their experiences. This initiative represents a meaningful step toward improved transparency, responsiveness, and regulatory efficiency.

One of the Chamber’s policy recommendations was to "implement and communicate a continual Process Improvement Plan, including a customer service feedback survey that is distributed to each applicant, with an annual review to identify challenges and establish metrics for measuring success."

By launching this survey, the City is taking an important step in identifying where those barriers exist. Whether the issues relate to processing times, clarity of requirements, communication gaps, or administrative redundancies, structured feedback is essential to uncovering and addressing these friction points.

This aligns with the Chamber’s advocacy for continuous process improvement and evidence‑based decision‑making in municipal regulatory systems.

The new survey is accessible through:

• an online form
• a link at the bottom of Planning and Development Customer Service Emails
• printed cards available at the Planning and Development Services customer service kiosk 
• a QR code at the PDS customer service kiosk

A business‑friendly regulatory environment doesn’t emerge solely from policy changes; it also grows from a culture of openness and partnership. Providing multiple feedback channels demonstrates a commitment to hearing from those who interact with the system most often – developers, builders, entrepreneurs, and property owners. 

While the survey itself does not modify regulations, it signals a shift toward a more responsive and service‑oriented municipal environment. Businesses benefit when municipal departments seek feedback and demonstrate a willingness to adapt based on the community’s needs.

If the results are used to inform measurable improvements – such as simplified processes, faster turnaround times, or clearer guidelines – this will mark meaningful progress toward the City’s overall competitiveness and business friendliness.

The Chamber welcomes this proactive step from the City and encourages Planning & Development Services to:

• Publicly share key findings from the survey to maintain transparency.
• Identify priority improvement areas based on the feedback received
• Commit to a cycle of continuous improvement, including future benchmarks and follow‑up surveys
• Engage the business community directly in co‑designing solutions to regulatory challenges.

A strong, efficient regulatory environment is a shared responsibility. With open channels for feedback and a commitment to improvement, the City and business community can work together to foster economic growth, reduce unnecessary burdens, and support a more vibrant future for Southeast Alberta. We thank the City for providing this feedback loop.