Browse regulations

Regulation requires federal public servants to obtain prior permission before seeking political nomination or candidacy, submit detailed information (duties, position, electoral district), subject to 30-day commission review; establishes investigation procedures for alleged improper political activity with 30-day post-election or discovery time limits (max 1 year); includes disclosure provisions for investigation findings. Purpose: maintain impartial, non-partisan public service.

From a free-market perspective, this regulation imposes substantial liberty restrictions and administrative costs without addressing a market failure. It creates a chilling effect on political participation, adds bureaucratic overhead, and treats public servants as a controlled class. The benefits of impartiality can be achieved via less restrictive means (transparency, post-hoc accountability), making this an unnecessary regulatory burden that distorts labor market flexibility and individual autonomy.

This regulation approves six specific blood collection container models (Vacutainer® and Tri-Tech products) as suitable for blood samples in criminal Code section 258 proceedings, creating a closed list of approved products for forensic use.

This prescriptive product approval creates unnecessary barriers to entry, restricts competition among manufacturers, and locks in specific vendors without contemporary justification. Modern forensic science relies on laboratory accreditation and validated protocols, not government-mandated product lists. The regulation maintains an outdated system that increases costs, reduces innovation in forensic supplies, and imposes bureaucratic overhead with no clear public safety benefit that couldn't be achieved through standards-based approaches.

A remission order granting Hunter Douglas Canada a refund of $103,527.64 in anti-dumping duties paid on wood slats from China that were processed in the United States before Canadian import.

It provides targeted corporate welfare, distorting competitive markets and establishing a precedent for special-interest remissions that undermine equal treatment and the rule of law.

A regulation comprising sections 1-3 that was entirely repealed by SOR/2009-31, s. 1 in 2009.

Already repealed (obsolescence). Its removal indicates legislative recognition of regulatory burden or ineffectiveness.

This regulation document consists of 79 sections across 6 parts, all marked as repealed by SOR/2014-104, section 44. There is no substantive regulatory text remaining.

This regulation has already been repealed and contains no active provisions. It is legally obsolete and serves no function; maintaining repealed entries in the regulatory corpus creates unnecessary clutter and confusion.

Regulation sets rules for non-imperative appointments to bilingual federal positions: candidates lacking official language proficiency may be appointed if they agree to attain required level within two years, with mandatory training, extensions for exceptional circumstances, and redeployment if unsuccessful.

It imposes unnecessary bureaucratic costs (training, administration, redeployment) and distorts merit-based hiring by allowing under-qualified appointments, leading to inefficiency and higher tax burden without clear improvement in public service effectiveness.

This regulation governs the collection, retention, and disclosure of passenger name record (PNR) information by the Canada Border Services Agency for immigration, national security, and international affairs purposes, including identification of persons suspected of terrorism or serious transnational crimes.

Canadians would be worse off if this regulation was deleted because it enables the government to identify and prevent serious crimes like terrorism and transnational criminal activity before they enter Canada, which protects public safety and national security in ways that would be difficult to achieve through other means.

A remission order granting customs duty exemptions on specific woven fabrics (tariff 5906.99.22) imported solely by Fenner Dunlop (Bracebridge) Inc. for conveyor belt manufacturing during the 1999-2004 period, subject to conditions including use verification and claim filing deadlines.

This is an obsolete, company-specific subsidy that distorts competition. The 5-year period ended nearly two decades ago; even if active, it represents corporate welfare granting Fenner Dunlop an unfair cost advantage over competitors, violates the principle of equal treatment under law, and sets a harmful precedent for rent-seeking. The regulation achieves no legitimate public purpose that cannot be achieved through general tariff policy; its existence merely transfers wealth from taxpayers to a single firm while harming market efficiency and fairness.

This regulation establishes priority hiring rights for various categories of public service employees, including surplus workers, those with disabilities, veterans, RCMP members, and surviving spouses. It defines complex entitlement periods, conditions, and processes for reinstatement and lay-off procedures.

This regulation creates a rigid bureaucratic system that restricts labor market flexibility, imposes complex administrative burdens, and distorts natural employment dynamics. It prevents efficient workforce reallocation by forcing government to prioritize certain employees over potentially more qualified candidates, ultimately reducing public service productivity and increasing costs to taxpayers.

This Order temporarily suspends Competition Act constraints to enforce a 2005 private agreement between trucking companies and the Vancouver Container Truckers' Association. It directs Vancouver and Fraser River Port Authorities to issue licenses only to parties that are signatories to this agreement and comply with its rates, charges, and mandatory arbitration process.

This regulation entrenches a government-backed cartel by suspending competition law, mandating specific rates, and restricting port access to existing signatories only. It creates artificial barriers to entry, reduces supply of container trucking services, and prevents market-determined pricing. The unseen costs include higher prices for shippers, reduced innovation and service quality, and the displacement of potentially more efficient competitors. Such explicit anti-competitive coordination violates the principle that wealth is created by liberty and competition, not by government-enforced collusion.

This regulation imposes Hours of Service (HOS) rules on commercial vehicle drivers, including daily driving limits (13 hours), on-duty limits (14 hours), mandatory off-duty periods (10 hours daily with 8 consecutive), and weekly/monthly hour caps (70/120). It mandates electronic logging devices, provides special permits for research and industry-specific needs, and has separate rules for northern Canada.

This regulation imposes rigid, one-size-fits-all restrictions that reduce supply, increase costs, and stifle flexibility in the trucking industry. It creates administrative burdens (ELDs, detailed logs), barriers to entry, and contributes to Canada's reputation as over-regulated. The costs include higher shipping prices for consumers, reduced labor market flexibility, and potential driver shortages. Safety goals could be achieved more efficiently through market mechanisms like insurance underwriting and tort liability, which incentivize companies to implement fatigue management tailored to their operations without government mandates. The regulation's unintended consequences include distorted scheduling, illegal non-compliance, and skilled workers leaving for less regulated markets like the US.

This regulation defines who qualifies as a 'public officer' for purposes of the Department of Employment and Social Development Act and establishes detailed rules for sharing personal information obtained under various social programs (Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security, and other programs) with numerous federal and law enforcement agencies for administration and enforcement purposes.

This regulation expands government surveillance capabilities by authorizing broad sharing of personal financial and social program data across agencies without individual consent. It creates a framework for administrative convenience that overrides privacy rights and enables government to pool information on citizens across multiple programs. The 'administration or enforcement' grounds are vague and invite expansive interpretation. From a classical liberal perspective, citizens have a right to privacy and should not have their data automatically shared across government departments unless under specific, narrowly-defined circumstances with proper judicial oversight. Better to have separate, narrowly-tailored information sharing agreements for specific law enforcement purposes rather than this blanket authorization.

Regulation establishes fees for financial regulatory services provided by the Superintendent, including charges for obtaining corporate documents (certificates, copies of letters patent, corporate history). Most sections have been repealed, leaving only fee schedules and definitional provisions.

Fee-setting regulations distort markets by imposing arbitrary costs on financial services, which are passed to consumers. The regulation is largely obsolete (most sections repealed) and its remaining provisions create unnecessary barriers to accessing corporate documents without clear justification that fees reflect marginal costs. Such administrative functions could be handled through transparent, cost-based pricing or private alternatives without regulatory capture.

Defines secure electronic signatures under PIPEDA, establishing technical requirements for digital signatures including hash functions, key pairs, and certification authorities, with validation procedures and presumption of authorship.

Creates unnecessary regulatory complexity for digital signatures that could be handled by market standards and private sector solutions. The presumption of authorship and mandatory certification authority system add compliance costs without clear consumer benefits, while stifling innovation in authentication technologies.

Regulation establishes the Gilbert Bay Marine Protected Area with four management zones (1A, 1B, 2, 3), prohibiting disturbance or damage to marine organisms and their habitat, with exceptions for specific fishing activities, wharf maintenance, emergency response, and approved scientific/educational activities requiring 60-day advance ministerial approval.

Prevents tragedy of the commons in marine resources by protecting habitat from unrestricted exploitation while largely preserving existing fishing rights and infrastructure maintenance; deletion would likely lead to degradation of fish stocks and biodiversity, imposing greater hidden costs on fisheries and coastal communities than the modest regulatory burden.