Browse regulations

This regulation removes Section 12.2 of the Softwood Lumber Products Export Charge Act, 2006, which dealt with export charges on softwood lumber products. The section ceased to be in force on October 12, 2013, and these regulations confirming the change came into effect on October 13, 2013.

This regulation removed an export charge that created barriers to trade, increased costs for producers, and reduced competitiveness in the lumber market. Export charges distort market signals, protect domestic interests at the expense of consumers and efficient producers, and create regulatory complexity that harms economic freedom.

These regulations establish the legal framework for electronic documents and signatures used in dealings with the Minister or Commission. They define key terms (conversion, electronic signature, migration, etc.), set presumptions about timing of sending/receipt, establish standards for reliability and integrity of electronic signatures and documents, outline conversion procedures, retention requirements, and rules for destruction. The core purpose is to give electronic documents the same legal value as paper documents while ensuring their reliability and integrity.

Canadians would be worse off without this regulation because it provides legal certainty that enables efficient digital interactions with government. Deleting it would create uncertainty about the validity of electronic signatures and documents, likely forcing a return to slower, more expensive paper-based processes. The regulation achieves its goal through clear, uniform standards that reduce litigation risk and facilitate reliable electronic transactions—outcomes that would be difficult to achieve through common law or without centralized rules.

Detailed procedural rules governing dispute proceedings before the Canadian Transportation Agency, covering filing procedures, timelines, confidentiality, document handling, and administrative processes.

These rules create unnecessary bureaucratic complexity that increases costs and delays for Canadians seeking transportation dispute resolution. The extensive procedural requirements and multiple filing deadlines serve to benefit lawyers rather than citizens, while the confidentiality provisions and document handling rules create barriers to transparency in public transportation matters.

Two regulation entries, both repealed in 2013 (P.C. 2013-1284). No substantive content available.

Repealed regulations are obsolete and not in force. Keeping them creates confusion and regulatory clutter without any benefits.

Agreement between Canada and Serbia to coordinate social security benefits, allowing individuals to combine creditable periods from both countries for pension eligibility and ensuring benefit portability across borders.

Facilitates international mobility for workers and retirees, preventing benefit loss when moving between Canada and Serbia. Ensures fair treatment of individuals who have contributed to both systems and promotes bilateral cooperation in social security administration.

Grants remission of interest to British Columbia on a $1.599B indemnification obligation under the Comprehensive Integrated Tax Coordination Agreement, conditional on 5 scheduled payments from 2012-2016. Provides partial remission for late payments covering interest from March 28, 2012 to day before missed payment date.

This targeted financial concession subsidizes British Columbia at the expense of federal taxpayers, creating moral hazard by forgiving interest on delayed payments. It lacks general principle and distorts fiscal federalism by selectively lowering borrowing costs without market-based justification.

International social security coordination treaty between Canada and Brazil. It harmonizes application of CPP/OAS and Brazilian social security, prevents double contributions, allows combining coverage periods to qualify for benefits, and mandates administrative cooperation including information sharing and claims processing.

It expands federal bureaucracy through mandatory international cooperation, requires ongoing data sharing with foreign authorities compromising privacy, and entrenches the welfare state by making Canada's social security system permanently portable abroad. The treaty creates inertia against needed reforms to CPP and OAS, and its benefits could be achieved through simpler, voluntary measures without delegating sovereign authority to foreign institutions.

Protocol amending Canada-France tax treaty: broadens tax authority information exchange (including from banks/financial institutions), removes prior restrictions, and clarifies territorial application and entry into force provisions.

This protocol expands cross-border tax surveillance, compelling governments to gather and share citizens' financial information even without domestic interest. It undermines financial privacy and strengthens the enforcement capacity of tax authorities, conflicting with principles of limited government and individual liberty. The treaty's double taxation relief could be maintained without these invasive information-sharing provisions.

This protocol amends the 1980 Canada-Barbados tax treaty, modifying residency definitions, dual-resident company rules, capital gains taxation, foreign tax credits, and information exchange to prevent double taxation and fiscal evasion.

Keeping this treaty imposes significant costs: mandatory intrusive information exchange violates financial privacy; complex rules create high compliance burdens; it reduces beneficial tax competition that would discipline governments; and it locks in a regime that expands state power over cross-border capital flows. The legitimate objective of preventing double taxation could be achieved more simply through unilateral foreign tax credit rules without these liberty-eroding provisions.

This protocol amends the Canada-Austria tax treaty's information exchange provisions (Article 26), broadening the scope of sharable tax information, removing bank secrecy as a barrier, and mandating liberal interpretation to facilitate maximum cooperation between tax authorities while including nominal safeguards against fishing expeditions.

This regulation expands state surveillance powers, violates financial privacy, and increases international government coordination at the expense of individual liberty. It removes protections like bank secrecy, enables cross-border data sharing with minimal meaningful constraints, and contributes to the regulatory burden that drives skilled Canadians abroad. The net effect is reduced privacy, increased state power, and potential chilling effects on cross-border financial activity—all contrary to prosperity and liberty.

Temporarily withdraws specified Crown lands in the Northwest Territories from disposal for two years to facilitate Aboriginal land agreement negotiations. The withdrawal covers surface-only lands (Schedule 1) and surface-subsurface lands (Schedule 2) but explicitly preserves all existing rights, mineral claims, petroleum licenses, and renewal options. Narrow exceptions permit continued quarrying and specific hydroelectric transmission projects.

Canadians would be worse off without this temporary freeze, as it enables orderly resolution of Aboriginal land claims that cloud property titles and deter investment. Allowing disposals during negotiations would create conflicting claims and prolonged legal uncertainty, harming Northern development. The two-year limit and full protection of existing rights minimize short-term disruption while securing the long-term clarity essential for market-based prosperity.

Withdraws specific territorial lands (7,600 km²) in Northwest Territories from disposal for one year to support proposed Nááts'ihch'oh National Park Reserve, exempting pre-existing mineral/petroleum rights and quarrying activities.

Temporary withdrawal from disposal restricts economic liberty and potential resource development; same objective could be achieved via administrative hold without creating a formal regulation, reducing unnecessary legal burden.

Temporary 2-year withdrawal of territorial lands in Northwest Territories from disposal to enable establishment of a national park in the Thaidene Nene area; excludes existing mineral/petroleum rights, quarrying, and specific power projects

Deleting this would risk piecemeal development fragmenting the land before park boundaries are finalized, making national park establishment more costly or impossible. Existing rights are fully protected; two years is reasonable for planning. The benefit of orderly conservation outweighs the minimal cost of temporarily delaying new dispositions on public land.

This regulation temporarily withdraws specific tracts of land in the Northwest Territories from disposal for two years to facilitate Aboriginal land and resource agreements, with exceptions for pre-existing mineral claims, energy projects, and infrastructure interests.

Deleting this regulation would leave Aboriginal land claims unresolved, creating legal uncertainty that deters investment and causes costly litigation. The temporary freeze provides a necessary window for negotiation while preserving existing economic activity through targeted exceptions. This approach achieves legal clarity and reconciliation in a way that ad hoc measures cannot.

The Canada Gazette will continue to be published electronically in PDF format, replacing previous publication methods.

Maintaining electronic publication of the Canada Gazette in PDF format ensures public access to official government notices and legal documents. Removing this regulation would reduce transparency and make it harder for citizens to access important regulatory information, which is essential for a functioning democracy and market system.