Regulatory Resources Online

  • TheSmartTape
    A Canadian 'tool box' for setting up, managing and assessing federal regulatory systems.
  • Voluntary Codes : A Guide for Their Development and Use
    A voluntary code may be the result of a private sector initiative without government involment. However, Mr. Robert Strachan of Industry Canada graciously provided the following general insights about government-supported voluntary codes: Voluntary are not law. However, governments may encourage industries to develop codes of conduct to enhance compliance with existing laws where there appears to be some compliance gaps or potential for marketplace failure. Further, governments may use existing codes as benchmarks against which to assess certain types of behaviour.

    Governments may also encourage industries to develop codes of conduct and assess their progress before contemplating formal legislation or regulation. In these cases, if legislation or regulation is chosen as the means of achieving the government’s policy objective, the code could serve as the framework around which the new legislation/regulations are drafted.

    In some countries, notably Australia and the UK, governments have developed more formalized approaches to incorporating voluntary codes and principles of self regulation into the search for optimal public policy responses to marketplace failures.

    See the book Voluntary Codes - Private Governance, the Public Interest and Innovation Kernaghan Webb, Editor.

  • OECD Guiding Principles for Regulatory Quality and Performance
    A benchmark website developed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and endorsed by Canada, dealing with regulatory principles that shift from the 1990s approach of single initiatives and less government intervention to "regulatory quality and performance that captures the dynamic, ongoing whole-of-government approach to implementation".
  • Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) - Regulatory Reform
    Atlantica's reporter and think-tank on current policy and regulatory matters. The annual reports and topical papers provide a wealth of information about Atlantic Canada's concerns on a number of high-profile public interest issues.

  • Regulatory Burden (The Fraser Institute)
     One of Canada's foremost and outspoken think-tank concerned with a wide array of government policies and regulatory matters. Wikipedia characterizes the Fraser Institute as a libertarian think-tank. Be that as it may, the Fraser Institute is known for producing high quality research papers that have some influence on government policy. Their study on the burden created by federal and provincial regulations dates back to 2001. Since then, major initiatives from both levels of government have strived to reduce that burden. The federal Smart Regulation initiative is but one of them.