Browse regulations

This Order imposes detailed monthly inventory tracking and reporting requirements on all cannabis license holders (cultivation, processing, medical sales), public bodies, and provincial retailers. It mandates exhaustive reporting of inventory movements, book values, quantities by product class and province, surface area measurements, and operational details through a dedicated government portal, with two-year record retention obligations.

The regulation imposes massive compliance costs that stifle competition and consumer welfare. The granular monthly reporting—tracking every inventory movement by class, province, and book value—consumes resources that could instead expand production, lower prices, or create jobs. Smaller operators face disproportionate burdens, creating barriers to entry that protect established players. The data collection appears far more extensive than needed for core objectives (tax enforcement, diversion prevention), which could be achieved through targeted audits or leveraging existing financial records. This represents the unseen cost of regulation: resources diverted from productive use to paperwork, ultimately reducing supply and increasing prices in the legal cannabis market.

This regulation applies subsection 58(1) of the Species at Risk Act to the critical habitat of the Western Silvery Minnow, a threatened fish species in Canada. It identifies specific habitat protections based on a recovery strategy and comes into force upon registration.

Canadians would be worse off if this regulation was deleted because it provides essential legal protection for a threatened species' critical habitat. Without these protections, the Western Silvery Minnow faces increased risk of extinction due to habitat destruction, which would represent a permanent loss of Canada's biodiversity and natural heritage. The regulation achieves species protection through established legal mechanisms that balance conservation with other interests.

Regulation governs oil and gas exploration and exploitation on First Nation lands, including licensing, environmental reviews, reporting, insurance, contract assignments, and mandatory consultation with First Nation councils. It imposes extensive approval requirements, reporting obligations, and operational restrictions on resource development activities.

Creates massive administrative burden and barriers to entry that suppress investment and development on First Nation lands. The mandatory insurance, environmental review, and approval processes add significant costs without market discipline. Assignment restrictions (max 5 holders, minimum 1%) severely limit market liquidity and financing. Reporting requirements and council consultation mandates create delays and uncertainty. These controls distort incentives, reduce supply, and ultimately diminish economic returns to First Nations as landowners. Property rights and contracts, enforced through common law and private ordering, would achieve better outcomes at lower cost. The regulation's one-size-fits-all approach cannot account for diverse local conditions and preferences that private bargaining would optimize.

This regulation governs consent requirements and disposal procedures for in vitro embryos, sperm, and ova under the Assisted Human Reproduction Act. Key mechanisms include: requiring written, witnessed consent from all donors (couples or individuals) before any measure can be taken; a 180-day waiting period before disposal of forfeited material when consent cannot be obtained; and procedural requirements for notice when seeking court orders to restore seized material.

This regulation imposes prescriptive consent and disposal requirements that increase compliance costs, restrict supply, and create barriers in the assisted reproduction market. The detailed rules — written/witnessed consent, 180-day hold periods, complex donor definitions — distort incentives, raise prices, and may reduce access to fertility services. These objectives could be achieved more efficiently through private contracts, professional standards, and existing tort/civil law, allowing market competition to balance safety, innovation, and affordability. The unseen costs include: fewer Canadians accessing services, talent drain to less restrictive jurisdictions, and stifled innovation in reproductive technology.

Regulation SOR/2020-142 implements reimbursement provisions under the Assisted Human Reproduction Act by defining eligible expenses for sperm/ova donors, surrogate mothers, and embryo maintenance/transport, along with documentation requirements for claiming reimbursements.

Canadians would be worse off without these clear, uniform rules because the regulation provides necessary administrative framework and predictability for a government reimbursement program. Deleting it would create uncertainty about eligible expenses and documentation requirements, leading to inconsistent application, potential disputes, and administrative chaos—while doing nothing to advance liberty or reduce red tape since it merely implements an existing Act rather than restricting private activity.

Comprehensive regulation governing sperm and ova processing, including donor suitability assessment, registration requirements, quarantine procedures, and distribution controls to ensure human health and safety.

Creates excessive bureaucratic barriers to reproductive services, drives up costs through mandatory registration and compliance requirements, and restricts supply of reproductive options while providing minimal additional safety benefits beyond existing medical standards.

Applies Species at Risk Act protections to critical habitat of Woodland Caribou Boreal population, excluding federal lands, reserves, Parks Canada areas, and Yukon/Northwest Territories territorial lands.

Canadians would be worse off if this regulation was deleted because it provides essential legal protection for endangered Woodland Caribou habitat, preventing habitat destruction that would lead to species extinction. The regulation creates enforceable restrictions on land use in critical areas, which would be difficult to achieve through voluntary measures or market mechanisms given the economic incentives for development.

Designates provisions in a schedule for subsection 177(2) of the Canada Transportation Act, effective December 15, 2019.

Regulatory designation without substantive content; creates bureaucratic overhead while providing no clear benefit to Canadians. Likely serves as a placeholder for future regulations that may themselves create unintended costs in transportation markets.

Preclearance Act regulations governing entry to preclearance areas, security clearances, and seizure procedures for cross-border travel between Canada and United States

Creates unnecessary bureaucratic barriers to cross-border movement, imposes costly security clearance requirements on workers, and duplicates existing customs enforcement mechanisms

Grants legal personality and UN Convention privileges/immunities to the European Space Agency and its officials/representatives in Canada, implementing the 2019 Cooperation Agreement.

Creates a privileged class above Canadian law, undermining rule of law and sovereignty. International cooperation can occur through voluntary contracts without state-granted immunities; such special treatment distorts the legal order and sets a precedent for expanding international privileges at the expense of domestic accountability.

Establishes excise tax indexing ratios for adjustments in 1983 and 1984, multiplying base ratios by specific factors for different tax categories.

These regulations are obsolete - repealed in 2016 and no longer applicable to current tax system.

This Order calls in (retires) specific Bank of Canada banknote denominations: $1, $2, $25, $500, and $1000. It revokes these particular note issuances under the Bank of Canada Act.

This regulation achieves nothing that voluntary market processes cannot handle better. Banknotes naturally become obsolete through use patterns, counterfeiting risks, and public preference. The Bank of Canada can phase out denominations through operational decisions without regulatory force. Mandating call-in dates creates unnecessary compliance burdens and concentrates power arbitrarily. Private actors and the central bank itself can manage currency transitions organically—letting the market decide which denominations circulate maximizes flexibility and avoids the unseen costs of top-down currency engineering, such as disrupting cash-based businesses or favoring certain transaction sizes.

Requires domestic systemically important banks to develop board-approved resolution plans (living wills) detailing critical functions, material entities, and strategies for orderly failure without systemic disruption or public bailouts. Banks must notify CDIC of material changes, maintain policies for testing/updating plans, and comply with CDIC reviews and revision requests.

Canadians would be worse off if deleted because it prevents disorderly collapse of systemically important banks, which would cause widespread economic harm, destroy savings, and likely force taxpayer bailouts. The regulation forces banks to internalize systemic risks and plan for private-sector resolution, which market forces alone would not achieve due to information asymmetries and free-rider problems. Without it, the financial system is far more vulnerable to contagion and government intervention.

This regulation incorporates Saskatchewan's provincial environmental, safety, and water power laws to apply to a specific hydroelectric project on Black Lake First Nation reserve lands, with adaptations to respect federal jurisdiction and ensure First Nation benefit from water rentals. It establishes the regulatory framework, enforcement mechanisms, and penalties for this particular project.

Deleting this regulation would create jurisdictional uncertainty for a major infrastructure project, potentially leaving environmental and safety standards ambiguous between federal and provincial authority. The regulation provides necessary legal clarity by adaptively incorporating existing provincial standards while respecting federal constitutional limits and ensuring First Nations benefit through structured water rental sharing. Without it, the project could face legal challenges, delayed development, and inconsistent oversight, ultimately reducing energy supply and economic opportunities for the region.

This regulation provides refunds for surtaxes paid on specific steel goods (classes 1-5, 7) under a 2019 order, with full refunds for classes 2-5 and 7 for all countries, and partial refunds for classes 1 and 6 only for Colombia, Korea, Panama, and Peru. It excludes goods already receiving other tariff relief.

This refund mechanism perpetuates a discriminatory tariff regime that distorts trade. It creates administrative complexity and compliance costs while only partially mitigating the harm of the underlying protectionist surtax. The selective treatment of specific product classes and countries violates free-market principles of non-discrimination and equal treatment under law. Canadians would be better served by eliminating the entire surtax framework rather than managing its inequitable exceptions.