{"id":1756,"date":"2019-04-29T13:31:27","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T17:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/rgi\/?p=1756"},"modified":"2026-03-16T12:42:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T16:42:55","slug":"regulatory-reform-the-search-for-the-elusive-silver-bullet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/rgi\/2019\/regulatory-reform-the-search-for-the-elusive-silver-bullet\/","title":{"rendered":"Regulatory Reform: The Search for the Elusive Silver Bullet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n\n
\n
\n
\n

\n Regulatory Reform: The Search for the Elusive Silver Bullet\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Michael Presley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, Governments of all stripes around the world have tried to come to grips with the fact that their regulatory systems need to be refined if not overhauled.  Recognition of the importance of regulatory reform will only increase as time passes because it remains one of the most important aspects of public administration that has lacked strategic and sustained attention over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canada\u2019s approach to regulatory reform could likely be best described as coming in \u201cfits and starts\u201d. From efforts to introduce \u201csmart regulation<\/a>\u201d, to \u201cstreamlined regulation\u201d, to \u201cCanada-US regulatory harmonization\/cooperation<\/a>\u201d, to \u201cred tape reduction strategies<\/a>\u201d characterized by \u201cOne for One<\/a>\u201d controls on the growth of regulation, there have been many genuine and well intentioned efforts at reform. But through each of the above efforts there persisted a belief that reforms could be accomplished through a single overarching policy or governance change that would fix the problem once and for all. To date, this na\u00efve search for a silver bullet approach to reforming Canada\u2019s regulatory system has produced predictable results. For example, many governments\u2019 efforts to create new wise centrally administered tough regulatory policy that is enforced through a powerful cabinet committee has not, as stand alone reforms, resulted in the improvements their promoters promised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Canada, the regulatory system is an underestimated asset to Canada. The Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada<\/a> notes that in the 2016-17 fiscal year, sixteen of the most significant federal regulatory changes approved by the Treasury Board cabinet committee resulted in a net benefit to Canada of more than $9.6 Billion annually  (total costs were $7.0 billion and benefits were $16.6 billion).  But few Canadians understand how all the moving parts of the system work and these costs and benefits are born unevenly by Canadians.  Industry bears most of the costs and is generally vocal about the need to reduce those costs. Canadians who benefit are often not fully aware of the protection afforded by such measures and so are relatively inarticulate about their impacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canada, like most jurisdictions, has focused at the federal order of government on getting its regulatory policy right and giving its cabinet oversight committee (the Treasury Board) the advice it needs to approve new regulatory proposals that are precise rather than blunt instruments. The regulatory policy is the \u201cCabinet Directive on Regulation<\/a>\u201d and it is an intelligent and well constructed policy that has evolved over the last ten years into a well regarded foundational element of a good regulatory system. It performs, however, a very limited role in refining the overall regulatory system. The reason it is limited in impact is because it primarily affects the design of new regulatory proposals and does not have much practical impact on how effectively they\u2019re actually implemented and managed on an ongoing basis. Neither does it affect the vast majority of federal regulatory requirements that rarely come to the Treasury Board for review and updating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the best designed and consulted regulatory proposal can prove ineffective if it isn\u2019t well implemented and monitored for its impact. Every regulation is actually an experiment and only careful management, monitoring and adjustments will increase the likelihood that it will work as intended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that the current Federal Government has introduced a reform strategy that relies less on silver bullets and more on solid ongoing regulatory management.  It seems to recognize that regulatory system reform is not a \u201cone and done\u201d task, but an ongoing effort that requires sustained attention, oversight and management throughout the regulatory life-cycle of each program.  The initial innovation and agility priorities of the Government are strategically focused on sectors of the economy where regulatory reforms could produce early wins. The thrust of the approach is on three sectors: agri-food and aquaculture; health and bio-sciences; and transportation and infrastructure. Road maps are beginning to look beyond design questions and towards reforming implementation approaches, inspection practices, and compliance and enforcement efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the federal regulatory system reaches well beyond these three sectors: the lessons learned there will contribute to the remodeling of regulatory reform road maps emerging in other federal Departments and Agencies. Systematic reviews will be undertaken on the stock of regulations that are rarely critically evaluated. As a complement to these efforts, the implementation of ongoing stakeholder regulatory review advisory groups would give both Departments and Agencies the means to effectively improve regulatory management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This process is still in its early days, but the philosophy that underpins this latest regulatory reform effort seems more likely to lead to lasting impacts than the \u201csilver bullet\u201d approaches of previous governments around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Presley Over the years, Governments of all stripes around the world have tried to come to grips with the fact that their regulatory systems need to be refined if not overhauled.  Recognition of the importance of regulatory reform will only increase as time passes because it remains one of the most important aspects of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rgi-blog"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/rgi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/rgi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/rgi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/rgi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/rgi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1756"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/rgi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1767,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/rgi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1756\/revisions\/1767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/rgi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/rgi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/rgi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/rgi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}