Browse regulations

A 10-year moratorium (2023-2032) prohibiting all offshore petroleum exploration, drilling, production, processing, and transportation in a specific Nova Scotia offshore area, implemented under the Canada-Nova Scotia Accord Implementation Act.

This prohibition destroys wealth by preventing voluntary resource development, violates property rights, imposes massive unseen costs (lost jobs, tax revenue, energy production), and substitutes government decree for market-determined resource allocation. The environmental goals could be achieved more efficiently through liability frameworks and market incentives rather than blanket bans that harm prosperity and competitiveness.

Temporary regulation waiving solvency special payments and adjusting solvency ratio requirements for Canada Post Corporation's defined benefit pension plan, with additional reporting requirements, effective until December 31, 2024.

This regulation carves out preferential treatment for a government-owned Crown corporation, exempting it from pension solvency requirements that apply to private sector employers. This creates unfair competitive advantages, distorts market discipline, and transfers risk to taxpayers. The temporary nature masks the moral hazard of allowing a government entity to sidestep funding obligations that private businesses must meet. True deregulation would eliminate such exemptions, not expand them selectively.

Prescribes which federal bank contracts must recognize government bail-in powers under the CDIC Act, requiring contractual provisions for resolution actions and defining classes of covered institutions and eligible financial contracts.

Undermines freedom of contract and market discipline by enforcing government bail-in powers on private agreements. Creates moral hazard, making bank debt appear safer than market risk assessment would dictate. Imposes compliance costs, distorts credit allocation toward regulated banks, and embeds regulatory capture through FSB designations. The unseen effects include encouraging excessive risk-taking by systemically important banks, crowding out non-bank financial intermediaries, and reducing transparency for counterparties who cannot negotiate these terms.

Increases RCMP pension benefits for widows and survivors via 2% annual adjustments (2020-2022) and massive deemed contribution increases (1,381-1,441%) for residual calculations, enhancing obligations without explicit funding.

Imposes unfunded liabilities on taxpayers, creates unsustainable intergenerational transfers, distorts labor market incentives toward government employment, and bypasses democratic budgetary scrutiny for retrospective benefit enhancements.

This regulation applies subsection 58(1) of the Species at Risk Act to the critical habitat of Gattinger's Agalinis, a protected plant species, as identified in its recovery strategy. The order takes effect upon registration.

This regulation protects a critically endangered plant species by restricting activities that could destroy its habitat. Without this protection, the species would likely face extinction due to development and habitat loss, causing irreversible biodiversity loss that would be difficult to reverse once the species is gone.

This regulation establishes the procedural rules for the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) of the Immigration and Refugee Board. It covers filing appeals (sponsorship, removal order, residency obligation, Minister's appeals), document disclosure requirements, witness procedures, interpreter needs, representation (including designated representatives for vulnerable persons), language rules, and hearing logistics. The rules include flexibility provisions allowing the Division to modify requirements or act on its own initiative to resolve appeals 'as informally and quickly as the circumstances and the considerations of fairness and natural justice permit.'

This regulation ensures procedural fairness and access to administrative justice in immigration decisions, which protects individuals—including Canadian citizens and permanent residents—from arbitrary or erroneous state action. Without structured appeal mechanisms, removal orders or sponsorship refusals could stand without independent review, violating rule of law principles. While the regulation imposes administrative burdens, these are necessary costs of maintaining a fair system that prevents miscarriages of justice. The flexibility clauses (Rules 2-5) allow the Division to avoid undue formalism, making this a balanced framework for due process rather than excessive red tape.

Prohibits oil and gas exploration and production activities in Canadian Arctic offshore waters under Northern Affairs administrative responsibility, with a repeal date of December 31, 2028, and repeals a previous 2019 order.

Creates regulatory uncertainty for energy development, discourages investment in Arctic resources, and perpetuates interprovincial trade barriers by preventing Canadian energy production while Canada imports similar resources from other jurisdictions.

Administrative tribunal rules for appeals under Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security, Employment Insurance, and Canada Disability Benefit, covering procedures, evidence, hearings, and decision processes

Provides essential procedural framework for resolving disputes in critical social programs, ensuring access to justice and consistent application of benefits eligibility decisions.

Establishes procedural rules for the Social Security Tribunal, including requirements for filing constitutional challenges to social security legislation, hearing formats (with Tribunal discretion), and provisions for private hearings to protect sensitive information. Repeals previous regulations.

Creates unnecessary bureaucratic overhead and barriers to justice through formal filing requirements; grants excessive Tribunal discretion over hearing formats and privacy, undermining transparency; the entire tribunal system duplicates court functions and expands the administrative state. Constitutional challenges should proceed directly in federal court under established rules.

Federal regulation restricting non-Canadian ownership of residential property, with exceptions for temporary residents, diplomatic personnel, refugees, and certain property types and circumstances.

Creates housing supply restrictions and market distortions that reduce overall housing availability, increase prices, and limit property rights without addressing fundamental supply constraints.

Implements UN Security Council Resolution 2653 by freezing assets of designated persons related to Haiti, imposing arms embargoes, and prohibiting financial transactions, with narrow humanitarian exceptions and administrative compliance duties for financial institutions.

Sanctions violate Canadians' property rights and economic liberty, impose compliance costs on financial institutions, and primarily harm ordinary Haitians while achieving negligible policy outcomes. They set precedent for government restricting voluntary exchange and improperly delegate Canadian sovereignty to UN bodies who face no accountability for unintended consequences.

This regulation designates critical habitat for the Pugnose Minnow under the Species at Risk Act, applying subsection 58(1) to protect the species' habitat as identified in its recovery strategy.

Canadians would be worse off if this regulation was deleted because it provides essential legal protection for an endangered species' habitat, preventing development and activities that would destroy the Pugnose Minnow's critical habitat and potentially lead to extinction. The regulatory mechanism is necessary to enforce habitat protection that would be difficult to achieve through voluntary measures alone.

This regulation designates critical habitat for the Black Redhorse (Moxostoma duquesnei) under the Species at Risk Act, applying subsection 58(1) to protect the identified habitat as per the recovery strategy on the Species at Risk Public Registry. It comes into force upon registration.

This regulation imposes regulatory burden on private landowners and development without clear evidence that such restrictions effectively recover the species. Habitat protection through regulatory means often creates perverse incentives, reduces land value, and pushes development to less suitable areas. The costs of compliance and lost economic opportunity outweigh uncertain conservation benefits, especially when private conservation incentives are suppressed.

This regulation imposes economic sanctions on specific Haitian individuals and entities, prohibiting Canadians and Canadian entities from dealing with their property, providing them goods or financial services, and requiring financial institutions to continuously monitor and report holdings. It includes a list of 38 named persons and provides narrow exceptions for certain pre-existing contracts, pensions, legal services, and diplomatic functions.

It violates property rights and economic liberty by prohibiting voluntary transactions between consenting parties, imposing compliance costs on financial institutions, and creating a competitive disadvantage for Canadian businesses. The broad criteria risk ensnaring innocents through association, while the regulation achieves foreign policy objectives through domestic coercion rather than persuasion. Unintended consequences include harming ordinary Haitians and diverting economic activity to less scrupulous jurisdictions.

This regulation implements emergency financial measures by requiring entities to cease dealings with designated persons, establish ongoing monitoring systems, register with FINTRAC, report suspicious transactions, and disclose information to law enforcement. It applies to banks, credit unions, insurance companies, securities dealers, payment platforms, and fundraising entities.

Canadians would be worse off if this regulation was deleted because it provides critical financial safeguards against money laundering, terrorist financing, and economic threats during emergencies. The mechanisms ensure financial institutions can identify and block transactions with designated persons, preventing the use of Canada's financial system for illicit activities and protecting national security. Without these measures, designated persons could freely move funds, fund criminal activities, and undermine emergency responses.