Targeted Regulatory Reviews

Following the recommendations of the Advisory Council on Economic Growth, and recognizing the importance of ensuring that regulatory frameworks remain effective and relevant, the Government of Canada announced in Budget 2018 that it would fund “targeted reviews of regulatory requirements and practices that are bottlenecks to economic growth and innovation” over three years. The first round of targeted Regulatory Reviews focused on three high-growth sectors:

• agri-food and aquaculture
• health and bio-sciences
• transport and infrastructure

In partnership with departments and agencies, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat led national engagement efforts with businesses, Canadians, academia, and other stakeholders to seek their ideas and identify barriers to innovation. This included Canada Gazette consultations, in which stakeholders were asked to provide feedback on ways to enable regulations to be more agile, transparent, and responsive resulting in benefits for all Canadians.

Health and Biosciences Sectoral Regulatory Review Roadmap

Health Canada participated in the Regulatory Review focused on the health and biosciences sector to identify and address regulatory barriers to economic growth and innovation. Based on feedback from stakeholders, Health Canada drafted a Sectoral Regulatory Roadmap to address issues raised.

The Health and Biosciences Sectoral Regulatory Review Roadmap lays out a regulatory modernization plan to support innovation and economic growth in the health and biosciences sector. In addition to existing resources from implicated regulatory departments and agencies, the Government has identified proposed legislative and regulatory changes, as well as additional funding to move forward on the Regulatory Roadmaps. Budget 2019 provided an investment of up to $219.1 million over five years, starting in 2019-20, part of which would support of the implementation of initiatives from the Health and Biosciences Regulatory Roadmap.

The Health and Biosciences Sectoral Regulatory Review Roadmap identifies a suite of initiatives, and proposed timelines (as of May 2019), to advance regulatory modernization in the health and biosciences sector.  

Health Canada’s Forward Regulatory Plan provides further details and the latest information on proposed regulatory changes.

Health Canada’s Policy and Program Initiatives and Novel Regulatory Approaches provides further details and the latest information on proposed policy, program or novel approaches.

Agri-food and Aquaculture Sectoral Regulatory Review Roadmap

Health Canada also participated in the Regulatory Review focused on the agri-food and aquaculture sector to identify and address regulatory barriers to economic growth and innovation. Based on feedback from stakeholders, Health Canada contributed to the drafting of a Sectoral Regulatory Roadmap to address issues raised.

The Agri-food and Aquaculture Regulatory Review Roadmap lays out a regulatory modernization plan to support innovation and economic growth in the agri-food and aquaculture sector. In addition to existing resources available to implicated regulatory departments and agencies, the Government has identified proposed legislative and regulatory changes, as well as additional funding to move forward on the Regulatory Roadmaps. Budget 2019 provided an investment of up to $219.1 million over three years, starting in 2019-20, part of which would support of the implementation of initiatives from the Agri-food and Aquaculture Regulatory Roadmap.

The full Agri-food and Aquaculture Regulatory Roadmap identifies a suite of initiatives, and proposed timelines (as of May 2019), to advance regulatory modernization in the agri-food and aquaculture sector.

Health Canada’s Forward Regulatory Plan provides further details and the latest information on proposed regulatory changes.

Health Canada’s Policy and Program Initiatives and Novel Regulatory Approaches provides further details and the latest information on proposed policy, program or novel approaches.