Browse regulations

Alberta fisheries regulation under the federal Fisheries Act. It governs sportfishing, commercial fishing, and Indigenous food fishing through licensing, seasonal closures, catch quotas, gear restrictions, and prohibited methods. Aims to conserve fish populations while managing multiple uses across the province.

This command-and-control regime imposes substantial compliance costs, restrains liberty, and wastes enforcement resources. Central planners cannot optimally set quotas or gear rules, leading to misallocation and perverse incentives like wasteful discarding. The regulation's rigid one-size-fits-all approach ignores local knowledge, harms rural economies, and may drive activity underground. Market-based conservation via property rights or transferable quotas would better sustain fish and allocate access.

All regulations in this document have been repealed as of SOR/2018-147, s. 33, indicating they are no longer in force or effect.

Regulations are already repealed and obsolete, representing regulatory deadweight that should be formally removed from the books to eliminate unnecessary legal clutter and demonstrate commitment to regulatory reduction.

Regulation mandates benzene concentration limits (1.0% for suppliers, 1.5% for retail) and benzene emissions number limits (71 summer, 92 winter) for gasoline. Requires specific ASTM/CGSB testing methods, extensive record-keeping, quarterly/annual reporting, import notifications, and registration. Allows compliance via yearly pool average averaging. Applies to refiners, blenders, and importers with limited exemptions.

Imposes massive compliance costs that raise gasoline prices and create barriers to entry, entrenching incumbent producers while excluding small competitors. Central planners cannot determine optimal benzene levels or testing methods (knowledge problem), preventing market innovation in cleaner fuels. Pollution externalities would be more efficiently addressed through targeted liability rules rather than blanket mandates affecting all gasoline regardless of actual harm. The administrative overhead—mandatory testing, reporting, registration, and detailed record-keeping—diverts resources from productive use.

Regulation implementing Employment Insurance Act provisions, defining insurable earnings, calculating premium amounts, establishing remittance schedules by employer size, imposing information return filing requirements, setting penalties, creating deemed employer rules for specific sectors (stevedores, logging, agencies, barbers, etc.), and prescribing interest rates.

Massive compliance burden creates deadweight losses, distorts hiring decisions, suppresses private insurance alternatives, and enforces one-size-fits-all coercion. Deemed employer provisions override voluntary contracts while administrative costs small businesses must bear reduce competitiveness and entrepreneurial activity. The unseen consequence is a less dynamic labor market where Canadians cannot freely choose insurance arrangements or innovate around work arrangements.

Federal regulation consisting of sections 1-4, all repealed by SOR/2018-27, s. 4; no current provisions remain in force.

Already repealed and obsolete; keeping it on the books creates unnecessary legal clutter, wastes administrative resources, and may mislead practitioners. The repeal itself indicates the regulation likely imposed net costs without sufficient benefit.

Comprehensive marine mammal management regulations covering fishing licensing, species protection, hunting methods, seasonal restrictions, and conservation measures for Canadian waters and vessels

Creates excessive regulatory burden that restricts sustainable use of marine resources, imposes unnecessary licensing requirements, and limits traditional hunting rights while failing to demonstrate that current restrictions are necessary for conservation

Federal regulation imposing a $0.14 per pound mandatory levy on Quebec maple syrup producers for bulk interprovincial/export trade, collected by the Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec with buyers acting as collection agents if producers fail to remit.

This compulsory levy represents harmful government intervention that distorts market signals and imposes administrative compliance costs on producers and buyers. It forces producers to fund a commodity board regardless of whether they benefit from its activities, creating unseen deadweight loss and rent-seeking opportunities. The regulation achieves nothing that voluntary producer associations couldn't achieve without coercion, while extracting resources from productive enterprise.

Fisheries Act regulations controlling effluent from pulp and paper mills to protect fish habitat. Sets numeric discharge limits for BOD and suspended solids based on production rates, requires extensive monitoring/reporting, mandates emergency plans, and establishes an authorization system. Applies to all mills except Port Alberni Mill.

Command-and-control approach imposes heavy compliance costs and rigid standards that stifle innovation and reduce industry competitiveness. Market-based mechanisms like pollution taxes or tradable permits would achieve environmental protection more efficiently by allowing flexibility and harnessing price signals. The regulation's unintended consequences include higher production costs, barriers to technological advancement, and potential industry relocation.

Procedural rules governing civil claims against the federal Crown in provincial courts, covering service of process, time limits for defenses, judgment certification, discovery, document disclosure, confession of judgment, and cost rules. It standardizes procedures across provinces with specific modifications to account for the Crown's unique position as a litigant.

Provides necessary procedural predictability and consistency across provinces for litigation against the Crown. Deleting it would force courts to develop these rules through common law, increasing transaction costs and uncertainty. The modest Crown advantages (14-day extension, no security for costs) are reasonable accommodations for government bureaucracy and do not substantially distort justice or economic liberty.

Rules governing procedures for the Canadian International Trade Tribunal, including filing, service, hearings, and confidentiality procedures for trade-related disputes and appeals.

These procedural rules ensure fair, efficient trade dispute resolution that protects Canadian businesses and maintains predictable international trade relationships. Without them, Canada would lack a structured mechanism to address unfair trade practices, safeguard domestic industries, and uphold trade agreements.

Regulations governing the use of the Esquimalt dry dock, including vessel entry procedures, safety requirements, dock charges, and property protection. Covers everything from booking and deposits to cleanup and temperature restrictions.

This is a repealed regulation for a specific federal facility that is no longer in effect. The regulation has been superseded and its mechanisms are obsolete, creating unnecessary complexity in the regulatory code without serving any current purpose.

Establishes a government-controlled system for verification and certification of electricity and gas meters, including accuracy standards (max 3% error), accreditation of verifiers, detailed record-keeping requirements, and procedures for approvals and revocations.

Creates a government monopoly that stifles competition, innovation, and imposes unnecessary compliance costs. The accuracy goals could be achieved through private certification and liability, avoiding the knowledge problem and unintended consequences of central planning.

The regulation consists of 7 sections, all repealed by SOR/2017-200, s. 7. No substantive provisions remain in force.

Already repealed; keeping it would create legal uncertainty and serves no purpose. Its original provisions were likely unnecessary or harmful, as indicated by the repeal.

The National Historic Parks General Regulations govern use of Canada's National Historic Parks. They prohibit disturbance of archaeological sites, flora, fauna, natural objects, and structures; require permits for camping, fires, water use, explosives, aircraft, vessels, diving, and advertising; grant Superintendents broad discretion to restrict areas and authorize activities; and ban commercial camping. The purpose is preservation, safety, and management.

Keeping this regulation imposes heavy costs: it restricts individual liberty through an expansive permit system, bans legitimate activities (e.g., commercial camping, campfires), grants wide discretionary powers that risk arbitrary enforcement, and duplicates existing laws. Unseen effects include reduced tourism, stifled entrepreneurship, and bureaucratic inefficiency. The same objectives could be met with far less intrusive measures, making the regulation net harmful.

Comprehensive fisheries regulations for Newfoundland and Labrador governing commercial, recreational, and indigenous fishing through licensing systems, gear restrictions, catch quotas, size limits, seasonal closures, and area-specific rules for salmon, trout, char, cod, and eels. Includes berth licensing, mesh size requirements, and detailed operational constraints.

These regulations artificially restrict supply, create bureaucratic barriers, and distort market mechanisms. The licensing system creates monopolistic berth rights, gear restrictions prevent technological innovation, and catch limits reduce available fish supply. Compliance costs and regulatory complexity burden both commercial operators and recreational anglers. Market-based property rights and pricing would allocate resources more efficiently and provide better conservation incentives without the deadweight loss and unintended consequences of command-and-control management.