Browse regulations

This regulation provides GST/HST rebates for the provincial component of tax paid on purchases of certain residential complexes (primarily multi-unit purpose-built rentals). It defines eligibility criteria including minimum unit thresholds (4+ with private amenities or 10+ units), requires units be held for eligible purposes, and establishes a sliding scale of rebate amounts per unit that declines annually from 2024-2035 based on construction completion dates. The rebate applies in specific provinces with different effective dates.

This subsidy artificially distorts housing development toward large multi-unit projects that meet arbitrary criteria, creating misallocation of capital and encouraging rent-seeking behavior. It fails to address the root causes of housing shortages—zoning restrictions, development charges, and lengthy approval processes—while adding complexity and bureaucratic costs. Taxpayer funds would be better retained or used to eliminate the underlying regulatory barriers that suppress supply across all housing types. The phase-out schedule creates a cliff effect that distorts timing decisions rather than letting market demand guide development.

Regulation prescribing disclosure standards and procedural requirements for proxy solicitation and information circulars for banks and bank holding companies under the Bank Act, incorporating National Instrument 51-102 forms.

The regulation imposes compliance costs and rigid disclosure mandates that distort voluntary shareholder communication. Unseen effects include regulatory complexity raising barriers to shareholder activism, increased banking costs passed to consumers, and contributing to the cumulative burden that drives capital and talent to the United States, undermining Canada's competitiveness.

This regulation establishes fees for applications under the Canadian Navigable Waters Act, with fees ranging from $1,000 to $66,000 depending on the type and number of works involved, plus a $66,000 fee for exemption applications.

These fees create significant barriers to infrastructure development, increasing costs for projects that could improve navigation, energy production, or public safety. The high fees discourage small businesses and entrepreneurs from building necessary works, effectively creating a regulatory monopoly where only well-funded entities can navigate the approval process. This reduces competition, innovation, and the overall supply of infrastructure that could benefit Canadians.

Mandates safety management systems for all Canadian vessels (Class 1-5) and foreign vessels in Canadian waters, requiring documented policies, procedures, audits, and government-issued certificates based on the ISM Code. Non-compliance prohibits vessel operation.

Duplicates private safety mechanisms (insurance, classification societies) that already enforce standards efficiently. Heavy regulatory burden with documentation, audits, and inspections creates barriers to entry, raises shipping costs for all Canadians, and invites regulatory capture. Market forces and tort liability can achieve safety outcomes without government-mandated bureaucracy that stifles competition and innovation.

Comprehensive regulatory framework governing animal feed in Canada. Requires pre-market approval/registration for virtually all feeds, with extensive documentation including scientific evidence of safety, efficacy, and quality. Establishes exemptions for small-scale, farm-use, research, and certain imported feeds. Creates system of listing approved ingredients in Canadian Feed Ingredients Table and incorporates numerous technical documents by reference. Grants Minister power to cancel approvals based on risk assessment.

This regulation imposes massive barriers to entry and innovation through a universal registration requirement that covers virtually all commercial animal feed. The pre-approval system with burdensome scientific evidence requirements raises costs, delays market entry, and gives government officials power to decide what feeds are permissible rather than allowing market forces and liability to determine safety. The exemptions are narrow and complex, leaving most innovation stifled. Canadian farmers face higher feed costs and reduced product choice, harming competitiveness relative to jurisdictions with lighter-touch approaches. The regulation supplants tort law's ability to punish harm after the fact with a preventive bureaucracy that cannot possibly assess all risks better than decentralized market actors, while creating rent-seeking opportunities and regulatory capture.

This regulation defines privileges and immunities for NATO-affiliated personnel in Canada, including international civilian personnel, military personnel, temporary staff, and their families, granting them legal protections similar to diplomatic status for official functions while maintaining Canadian sovereignty over its citizens and providing waiver mechanisms for justice.

Canadians would be worse off if this regulation was deleted because it ensures NATO personnel can effectively perform their duties in Canada without legal interference, maintains our strategic alliance commitments, and provides clear legal frameworks for international defense cooperation that would otherwise create uncertainty and potential diplomatic conflicts.

This is a remission order granting Gestion C.T.M.A. Inc. a refund of customs duties on the vessel CTMA Ranger imported in 2022, equal to the difference between General Tariff and Most-Favoured-Nation Tariff. It's a one-time, company-specific duty exemption with conditions requiring documentation and a claim within two years.

This is an arbitrary special interest remission that violates equal treatment and fair competition. It imposes a cost on taxpayers to benefit one specific company without public rationale, creating harmful incentives for lobbying and regulatory capture. Neutral, uniformly applied customs duties would be preferable.

Establishes the Tang.ɢwan — ḥačxʷiqak — Tsigis Marine Protected Area, prohibiting any activity that disturbs marine organisms or habitat, with limited exceptions for specific fishing methods, navigation, cables, safety/defense, and approved research/education. Requires ministerial approval for research plans and post-activity reporting. Repeals the Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents regulation.

Imposes blanket prohibitions and permit requirements that destroy economic value, delay beneficial research, and create perverse incentives (e.g., pushing fishing effort to other areas, stifling low-impact gear innovation). Centralized control ignores dispersed local knowledge and market-based conservation alternatives. The unseen costs—lost opportunities, bureaucratic drag, and unintended ecological shifts—far outweigh the uncertain benefits.

This regulation increases pension benefits for RCMP widows and survivors by specific percentage amounts on designated dates, adjusting both ongoing payments and lump sum benefits to account for inflation and cost of living changes.

Canadians would be worse off if these pension increases were deleted because it would effectively reduce the real value of retirement income for RCMP widows and survivors who have already paid into the system and are relying on these payments for basic living expenses. The cost-of-living adjustments are essential to maintain purchasing power and prevent these vulnerable Canadians from falling into poverty.

This regulation governs pay equity requirements for ministers' offices, creating a special grouping that becomes subject to pay equity rules upon the Pay Equity Act's implementation or a new Prime Minister's appointment. It adapts standard pay equity provisions (like committee requirements, employee thresholds, and penalty calculations) to apply to the collective grouping rather than individual ministers' offices.

This creates a separate bureaucratic framework for ministers' offices that imposes additional compliance costs and administrative burdens without clear evidence of improving pay equity outcomes. It adds regulatory complexity to government operations while diverting resources from actual service delivery, and the special treatment of ministers' offices suggests a lack of confidence in the underlying pay equity system's effectiveness.

Groups all ministers' offices under a single pay equity plan, centralizing the establishment and updating of pay equity compliance across all ministerial offices.

This purely administrative regulation adds bureaucratic overhead and centralization without unique benefits; pay equity could be handled through existing labour standards or ministerial discretion, and consolidation risks rigid one-size-fits-all policies that may not suit each office's context.

Exempts business loans over $10,000 and pawnbroking under $1,000 from criminal interest rate limits, and sets a 14% cap on payday loan total borrowing costs with specific provincial fee exceptions.

Without these exemptions, legitimate business lending would be criminalized and small-scale pawnbroking would be impossible, while the payday loan cap prevents predatory lending practices that trap vulnerable borrowers in debt cycles.

Comprehensive regulation governing the manufacture, import, sale, and advertising of biocides in Canada, establishing a market authorization system with detailed requirements for product information, safety assessments, and ongoing compliance monitoring.

Creates significant regulatory burden that restricts market entry, increases costs for consumers, and reduces availability of antimicrobial products without clear evidence that the complex authorization system provides benefits exceeding its costs. The extensive documentation requirements and approval processes create barriers that particularly harm small businesses and limit consumer choice in a product category where market forces could adequately address safety concerns.

Exempts Kapisikama Lake in Quebec from section 23 of the Navigable Waters Act, removing approval requirements for works affecting the lake.

Arbitrary exemptions violate rule of law and create regulatory inequality. If reduced burden is desired, the underlying Act should be amended generally, not via special privileges for specific locations.

This regulation implements the Underused Housing Tax Act, establishing definitions, exemptions, and administrative requirements for a tax on vacant residential properties. It defines census areas for tax purposes, creates exemptions for owner-occupied properties and certain business-related housing, and allows the Minister to require Social Insurance Numbers for tax filing.

This tax creates administrative burden, discourages property investment, and interferes with market mechanisms for housing allocation. The exemptions create complexity and compliance costs. Housing markets should be regulated by property rights and market forces, not tax penalties on vacancy.