To get a variety registered in western Canada it has to go through the cooperative testing system. That involves Agriculture Canada, universities, and private companies that do testing. Lines have to be tested before they are allowed to get into the cooperative testing system to make sure they come up to the minimum standards.
So these varieties are grown across western Canada. The information accumulated is on agronomic disease and grain quality. What used to be the prairie registration recommending committee has been modified slightly in the past year, but all the interested parties who were members of that committee get together and a decision is made on whether the candidate variety will meet the standards for disease, agronomic performance, and quality.
You need to have three years of data for the test, and generally by the time it gets to that point the only candidates put forward will be the ones that have questions about quality. No breeding company is going to put forward a variety that has very poor disease resistance, because no farmer is going to buy it. It's the same thing with agronomic performance. If your variety is a dog, no farmer is going to buy it.
After it's recommended, it goes in for government approval.