Browse regulations

Regulation under the Fisheries Act that prohibits import, possession, transport, and release of listed aquatic invasive species (AIS) in specified geographic areas, with exemptions for emergency services, research, licensed aquaculture, and specific permit holders. It provides enforcement powers to fishery officers including directions, treatment orders, and use of certain deleterious substances for control, while requiring consultation for vessels over 24m and balancing public safety considerations. The regulation establishes a framework for preventing the introduction and spread of invasive aquatic species that could harm fish, fish habitat, or the use of fish.

Canadians would be far worse off without this regulation. Invasive species cause irreversible ecological damage, destroy commercial and recreational fisheries, damage infrastructure, and impose massive control costs that exceed prevention by orders of magnitude. The regulation addresses a clear market failure: individual actors do not bear the full social cost of introducing harmful species, creating a classic tragedy of the commons. Unlike reactive regulations, this is a cost-effective preventive measure with targeted, scientifically-based prohibitions and sensible exemptions for emergency services, research, and legitimate aquaculture. The alternative—waiting for invasions to occur and then attempting eradication—is economically irrational and often impossible.

Prohibits Canadians from complying with U.S. 'Buy America' provisions for work on Alaska state premises leased from the Prince Rupert Port Authority. The order prevents compliance with specific U.S. domestic procurement preference laws and related directives for alterations or improvements to those premises.

Restricts business freedom by forbidding voluntary contract compliance with foreign procurement rules, limiting Canadian firms' access to opportunities and distorting competition. It increases costs for the port authority and harms Canadian businesses by excluding them from contracts they could otherwise win by meeting specifications, achieving no clear benefit while reducing economic efficiency and inviting retaliation.

This regulation creates an exemption allowing oats to be labeled 'gluten-free' if specially processed to contain no more than 20 ppm gluten from cross-contaminating grains (barley, rye, triticale, wheat). It also exempts such products from ingredient labeling requirements regarding gluten source and oats nomenclature.

Deleting this exemption would prohibit truthful gluten-free labeling for oats even at safe contamination levels, harming consumers with celiac disease by depriving them of essential product information and reducing market competition. The regulation enables beneficial disclosure with minimal compliance cost, while its removal would cause clear welfare loss without offsetting benefits.

Temporary amnesty order (May 2015-May 2017) allowing individuals with expired non-restricted firearms licenses (expired between Jan 2004-May 2017) to retain possession temporarily while taking corrective actions like license renewal, deactivation, export, surrender, or lawful transfer.

This regulation expired nearly nine years ago and serves no current legal function. Keeping obsolete orders creates unnecessary regulatory complexity and legal confusion without any benefit to Canadians. It should be removed to maintain clarity in the active regulatory framework.

Rules governing proceedings before the Canadian Agricultural Review Tribunal, including procedural matters, language requirements, filing deadlines, and hearing processes for agricultural administrative monetary penalties reviews.

Canadians would be worse off if these rules were deleted because they provide essential procedural fairness and consistency for agricultural penalty reviews. Without these standardized rules, applicants would face uncertainty about filing deadlines, language rights, and procedural requirements, potentially leading to arbitrary decisions and reduced access to justice in agricultural disputes.

List of 11 regulation sections, all marked as repealed by SI/2015-81, s. 6.05

Already repealed; no longer has legal force

Amends the Canada-UK tax treaty to update definitions, expand scope, clarify permanent establishment rules, modify dividend, interest, and royalty taxation, add pension fund exemptions, introduce mutual agreement procedures with arbitration, enhance information exchange, add tax collection assistance, and extend application to UK LLPs.

Facilitates cross-border trade and investment by preventing double taxation, reducing compliance costs, and providing dispute resolution mechanisms. Repealing it would harm Canadian businesses, investors, and pension funds operating in the UK by increasing tax burdens and creating legal uncertainty.

Criminal Procedure Rules for New Brunswick's Court of Queen's Bench governing applications, pre-trial conferences, trials, and appeals in criminal proceedings

These procedural rules ensure fair, efficient criminal justice administration. They provide necessary structure for legal proceedings, protect defendants' rights, and maintain judicial consistency. Without these rules, criminal proceedings would lack standardization, potentially leading to unfair trials and inconsistent justice delivery.

Bilateral social security agreement with India coordinating pension systems via coverage rules, contribution period totalization, and benefit calculations.

Canadians working in India would face double coverage burdens and lose portable pension rights without this coordination. The treaty prevents duplicate contributions and enables combined eligibility—outcomes difficult to replicate through private contracts.

This order defines ministerial responsibilities under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, specifically designating the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness as responsible for certain immigration matters while the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration handles others. It establishes which minister has authority over various sections of the Act.

This is an administrative organizational structure that clarifies ministerial responsibilities. Deleting it would create confusion about who has authority over specific immigration functions, potentially leading to jurisdictional conflicts and operational inefficiencies in the immigration system.

This order grants remission of taxes, penalties, and interest for settlement corporations transferring assets to the Sahtu Dene and Metis First Nation Government under a specific self-government agreement, providing a tax exemption for this Indigenous governance transition.

Keeping this exemption creates unequal treatment before the law, adds tax code complexity, and sets a precedent for special-interest carve-outs that distort incentives and undermine a neutral, simple tax system. The unseen cost is the erosion of the rule of law and increased rent-seeking for preferential treatment.

grants remission of Air Travellers Security Charge and Excise Tax for specific flights operated by Air Canada on June 10, 2014, carrying RCMP members, civilian employees, or public administration workers to/from a regimental funeral in Moncton, with conditions on claiming within one year and providing proof of payment

Obsolescence: applies only to a single day in 2014 with a one-year claim period that has long expired. Original flaw: creates a narrow, principle-free exception that adds regulatory complexity without serving any ongoing public interest; such ad-hoc remissions should be rejected as they distort tax system neutrality and invite special-interest lobbying

Provides remission of customs duties and excise taxes on official gifts exchanged between Canadian officials (Governor General, PM, ministers, MPs, Senators, provincial premiers, mayors) and foreign dignitaries during official visits.

Creates unequal treatment under tax law, incentivizes diplomatic gift-giving over substantive relations, adds administrative burden, and erodes public trust by granting government officials special tax exemptions not available to ordinary citizens for negligible revenue gain.

These regulations have already been repealed in 2015 under SOR/2015-237, section 1, making them currently inoperative and legally non-existent.

Already repealed and obsolete - no active regulatory burden remains, but original regulatory framework that was removed had unintended costs of restricting market operations.

These regulations require export permits for cultural property defined in the Control List, with extensive application requirements including detailed descriptions, photographs, and justification. Permits are time-limited (90 days) and require mandatory reporting for temporary exports.

Violates private property rights and imposes significant compliance costs. The permit system artificially constrains markets, potentially depressing values and driving legitimate trade underground. Canada's heritage goals could be achieved through less restrictive means: voluntary museum acquisitions, tax incentives for preservation, or targeted restrictions on only the most irreplaceable items—avoiding the broad takings and bureaucratic overreach this regulation entails.