Browse regulations

This regulation limits lead content in consumer products that children under 14 may access, with specific exceptions for products where lead is essential and alternatives are unavailable. It repeals previous lead regulations and establishes a 90 mg/kg lead threshold for accessible parts, with testing requirements.

Canadians would be worse off if this regulation was deleted because lead exposure in children's products causes irreversible neurological damage, developmental delays, and cognitive impairment. The regulation protects vulnerable children from toxic exposure while maintaining reasonable exceptions for essential products where alternatives don't exist.

The regulation sets maximum allowable lead (90 mg/kg) and cadmium (130 mg/kg for small parts) content in children's jewellery, tested under OECD good laboratory practices.

The regulation imposes testing and compliance costs that raise prices and reduce consumer choice, while crowding out private safety standards and liability mechanisms. It favours large manufacturers over small producers and may unintentionally drive production to less-regulated jurisdictions, all for marginal safety gains that could be achieved more efficiently by market-driven solutions and existing consumer protection laws.

A Nova Scotia hog marketing regulation imposing mandatory levies on producers selling hogs in interprovincial and export trade ($0.25/weanling, $2.00/other hogs), requiring quarterly remittance and reporting to a Commodity Board.

This compulsory levy and reporting regime coercively extracts funds from producers to finance a commodity board's activities, violating economic liberty and private property rights. The regulation interferes with interprovincial trade and creates a bureaucratic burden—producers could voluntarily fund marketing, research, or promotion if they saw value. The unseen costs include distorted incentives, reduced capital for productive investment, and the moral hazard of compelling speech through mandatory reports. Any legitimate industry coordination can occur without state coercion.

Regulates methane and volatile organic compound emissions from upstream oil and gas facilities in Canada, requiring equipment standards, monitoring, reporting, and specific controls for compressors and hydraulic fracturing operations.

Creates substantial compliance costs and operational burdens that reduce Canadian energy production competitiveness while achieving minimal environmental benefits that could be addressed through less restrictive market mechanisms.

These regulations mandate that organizations report data breaches to the Privacy Commissioner, notify affected individuals, and maintain records for 24 months. They specify report content, notification methods, and compliance requirements under PIPEDA.

Imposes significant compliance costs that drain business resources and hinder productivity. Stifles innovation by creating fear of penalties and encouraging risk-averse behavior. Privacy can be effectively safeguarded through market-based solutions like contract enforcement, tort law, reputation systems, and insurance, without expanding the regulatory apparatus and its unintended consequences.

Establishes compensation rules for creditors and shareholders when federal member institutions undergo resolution under the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation Act, including valuation methods, notice requirements, and assessment procedures.

Provides essential legal framework for orderly bank resolution, protecting creditor rights and ensuring market stability during financial crises. Without this, bank failures would create chaos and uncertainty for millions of Canadians.

Regulation establishing bail-in mechanisms for domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs), requiring conversion of certain shares and liabilities into common shares during bank failures, with disclosure requirements and advertising restrictions.

Bail-in provisions provide an orderly resolution mechanism that protects taxpayers from bank bailouts while maintaining financial system stability. Without these conversion mechanisms, bank failures would require costly taxpayer-funded bailouts or chaotic collapses that harm depositors and the broader economy.

This regulation establishes a bail-in framework for domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs). It prescribes which capital instruments (debt, subordinated debt, shares) can be converted to common equity during a bank recapitalization, sets conversion priority rules, and defines the process for orderly resolution when the Superintendent declares a bank non-viable.

This regulation institutionalizes 'too big to fail' and creates moral hazard by codifying bail-in mechanisms that shield large banks from full market consequences. It overrides private contracts and property rights through forced conversions determined by regulators rather than market participants. The designation of D-SIBs itself creates a regulatory privilege that distorts competition, favors incumbents, and encourages risk-taking by promising an orderly government-managed resolution. The centralized knowledge problem prevents regulators from optimally determining conversion ratios or viability thresholds, leading to capital misallocation and suppressed financial innovation. The framework undermines market discipline, socializes losses through taxpayer backstops, and perpetuates the cycle of regulatory interventions that originally created the 'too big to fail' problem.

This regulation defines specific prohibited SAN Swiss Arms firearms (Classic Green Sniper, Ver, Aestas, Autumnus, and Hiemis models) and establishes an amnesty period until February 28, 2021, allowing licensed owners to possess, transfer, or dispose of these firearms without criminal liability.

The regulation restricts specific firearm models without addressing actual public safety outcomes. The prohibition targets particular brands rather than dangerous characteristics, creating arbitrary restrictions that reduce lawful options for self-defense and sporting use while imposing compliance costs on owners. The amnesty period suggests the regulation creates more problems than it solves, as it acknowledges many Canadians already possess these firearms legally.

This Order-in-Council grants legal personality and diplomatic-style privileges and immunities to the United Nations University International Network on Water, Environment and Health (INWEH) and its personnel in Canada, implementing obligations under the UN Convention on Privileges and Immunities and related agreements.

Deletion would breach Canada's treaty obligations under the UN Convention and violate the principle of reciprocity; if Canada withdraws privileges from UN officials, Canadian diplomats and international organization staff abroad would lose corresponding protections. The regulation implements settled international law that enables Canada to host international bodies essential for diplomacy, development, and multilateral cooperation. The policy goal—maintaining good-faith international relations and hosting organizations that advance global public goods—cannot Practicably be achieved without such immunities.

Grants the Bank full juridical personality, immunity from legal process, property inviolability, freedom from restrictions, communication privileges, officer immunities, and tax exemptions as required for its international operations under Chapter IX of the Agreement.

Canadians would be worse off without these immunities because the Bank would face legal vulnerabilities, asset seizures, and regulatory interference that would compromise its ability to perform international monetary functions, creating economic instability and diminishing Canada's role in global finance. This treaty-based framework achieves operational independence in a way domestic law cannot, preventing jurisdictional fragmentation that would undermine the Bank's effectiveness.

A narrow, time-limited remission order granting refunds of a surtax on steel goods that were in transit before October 25, 2018, provided they were imported on or after that date and claims were made within two years of importation.

This regulation is obsolete; the two-year claim window has long expired, so it imposes ongoing costs by cluttering the statute book, creating legal uncertainty, and wasting administrative resources for no current benefit.

Order applies Species at Risk Act subsection 58(1) to protect critical habitat of Northeast Pacific northern resident Killer Whale population, restricting destructive activities in designated areas.

Coercive land-use restrictions destroy value by blocking productive uses, imposing compliance burdens, and distorting incentives. Unseen costs include lost investment, reduced competitiveness, higher prices, and regulatory capture risks; species protection could be achieved more efficiently through voluntary conservation, property rights enforcement, or government purchase without undermining liberty and prosperity.

Repeals the Critical Habitats of the Northeast Pacific Northern and Southern Resident Populations of the Killer Whale Order (SOR/2009-68), while confirming that subsection 58(1) of the Species at Risk Act continues to apply to the critical habitat of the southern resident population.

If this repeal were deleted, the earlier habitat protection order would remain, imposing regulatory takings that restrict private land use, reduce supply, increase housing costs, and stifle economic activity. These tangible harms outweigh speculative conservation benefits that could be achieved through voluntary, market-based conservation.

This order establishes mandatory levies on Quebec hog producers for hogs, sows, and boars sold in interprovincial or export trade, with specific rates per kilogram for hogs and fixed amounts for sows/boars, collected monthly by the Commodity Board.

This regulation imposes forced levies on producers without their consent, creating an involuntary transfer of wealth that distorts market signals and reduces producer autonomy. The unseen costs include reduced production incentives, higher consumer prices, and the administrative burden of collection and enforcement - all for a cartel-like system that benefits a few at the expense of many.