Overview of the Regulatory Process in the Federal Government
Regulations are used to enforce general laws or to clarify their purposes. Unlike statutes, regulations are not made by Parliament, but rather by persons or bodies that Parliament has authorized to act under an Act, such as the Governor in Council, a Minister or an agency. Parliament may delegate to various bodies or persons the power to make regulations to elaborate legislation. At the federal level, the power to make regulations is normally vested in the Governor-in-Council. We’ll see later that the Governor in Council is the Governor General, acting on the advice of the Queen’s Privy Council, which is in a sense the Cabinet, and the Cabinet is a group of ministers. The Governor in Council is in essence, a group of ministers who recommend that the Governor General make a regulation. In general, regulatory power is vested in the Governor in Council. On the other hand, we often see, in federal legislation, a power that is conferred on the Minister directly, often in matters that require greater responsiveness, and therefore quicker intervention than when the regulation is made by the Governor in Council. Parliament can also delegate power to a large number of decentralized government authorities. When a regulation is made by a decentralized government authority, it is possible that Parliament has provided for the regulation to be approved by the Governor in Council.
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Stakeholders in the Federal Regulatory Process
Federal regulations may be made by individuals (such as the Governor in Council or a Minister) or agencies to whom Parliament has delegated this authority. However, there is a range of stakeholders involved in the federal regulatory process from the moment that regulation is chosen as the instrument of choice to address a problem or implement a policy. The illustration below shows the main stakeholders typically involved in the development of a regulatory proposal at the federal level.
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Steps in the Federal Regulatory Process
The table below provides an overview of the major steps involved in the adoption of a regulation by the Government of Canada. Each of these steps will be discussed in detail in Modules 9 through 11.
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