(Globe & Mail)
Ottawa is
making sweeping changes to the way it regulates Canadian business to help firms compete at home and abroad in the face of lagging productivity growth, rapid scientific advances and emerging global
juggernauts such as China.
A 40-point Smart Regulation action plan to be unveiled this week will work to streamline the regulatory approval process for new drugs, biotechnology and pesticides to
harmonize standards, where sensible, with the United States, and to speed up environmental assessments of business projects.
It hopes to combat the so-called tyranny of small differences that hamper
Canada's trade-intensive economy by co-ordinating regulation with the United States and other commercial partners.
Ottawa insists that Smart Regulation is not a deregulation exercise and that it will
not cut corners when it comes to the health and safety of Canadians. But it sees a role for more nimble and flexible rules. "How does a relatively small country such as Canada keep up? How we do we keep
competitive? This is part of the answer," Treasury Board President Reg Alcock said.
Smart Regulation: Report on Actions and Plans is the federal government's reply to an arm's-length task force
that recommended improvements last September.
A 68-page draft copy of the report, obtained by The Globe and Mail, outlines 40 initiatives that Ottawa is taking to change the manner in which it
intervenes in the economy.
Mr. Alcock wouldn't discuss details of the report. He said Canada's regulatory system has "served us well" but needs to be updated. "This is a major economic
initiative and one that is extremely important to this government," he said.
Ottawa is planning a "triage system for regulatory submissions" by June 2005, that will divide proposed
regulations into low, medium and high categories in terms of risk and impact, the report says.Ottawa will focus more resources on the latter. Mr. Alcock said Ottawa wants to "enhance conditions for an
innovative economy while finding improved ways to meet high standards of social and environmental protection."
It's hardly the first time Ottawa has talked about reducing the regulatory burden -
a perennial goal of government since the 1970s. But Prime Minister Paul Martin's government says it's the first time there's been such a large "buy-in" from normally territorial departments, with
10 major ones participating. It says regular public reporting on progress -- every six months -- will also hold federal officials' feet to the fire.
The report comes during a key week for U.S.-Canada
relations, when Mr. Martin meets U.S. President George W. Bush at a North American summit in Texas.
Part of Smart Regulation will be reaching "consensus standards" with the United States to
eliminate myriad small differences in the way Canada and other trading partners regulate products and services, the report says.
It's a major demand by business but a politically sensitive one for a
minority Liberal government depending on the centre-left vote to win re-election.
A senior official said regulations can't be regarded as a sovereignty issue, but changes will have to be handled
carefully because of political sensitivities. The official said Canada has to differentiate between regulatory differences with the United States that make sense and those that do not.
For instance,
there is no reason why regulations that govern cheese-flavoured popcorn should set marginally different levels for the amount of cheese to be used in the United States and Canada. But there may be a reason
to set different bumper-height requirements for minivans if Canadian roads are full of smaller cars, they say.
Other initiatives -- some in concert with the provinces -- that will be featured in the
report include:
* BizPal: An Internet-based service that will allow businesses to generate a customized list of permits and licences required by all levels of government.
* A
paperwork-burden-reduction task force with the private sector to reduce the obligations for business to comply with regulations at all levels of government.
* Streamlined regulatory process for
prescription medicines and pesticides that will be "reduced by up to six months... while preserving a rigorous scientific review."
* A task force to reduce trans fats in Canadian food --
that will help hammer out regulations for strategies to help consumers cut intake.
* A consolidated federal environmental-assessment process with an aim of "improved timeliness... especially for
large-scale development projects" such as mines, petroleum and hydro generation. |
