Evidence of meeting #38 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was regulations.
A video is available from Parliament.
NDP
The Chair NDP Pierre-Luc Dusseault
That is the information provided to us by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
Conservative
NDP
The Chair NDP Pierre-Luc Dusseault
There is a point of order.
Mr. Ravignat was to speak first, but...
Conservative
Dan Albas Conservative Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC
Mr. Chair, on a point of order, I'm a guest on this committee. This to me is sounding more like a back-and-forth debate. If the member has a point of order, perhaps he could clarify that because right now it's taking time away from the officials we do have. I think out of respect for the people who are here, we should try to make the most of our experience.
NDP
The Chair NDP Pierre-Luc Dusseault
Thank you. That was a point of information. At the very least, I felt the need for clarification as to why we were missing a witness given everything we had asked for during our preparatory meeting.
I hope you have a different point of order, Mr. Ravignat, because I think the issue has already been resolved.
NDP
The Chair NDP Pierre-Luc Dusseault
I will therefore move straight to Ms. Weber, as planned, who has a maximum of 10 minutes. I thank her for being with us this morning.
Kendal Weber Director General, Policy, Planning and International Affairs Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and members of the Committee.
My name is Kendal Weber and I am the director general of policy, planning and international affairs in the health products and food branch at Health Canada.
Thank you for the opportunity to present Health Canada's perspective on Bill C-21, the red tape reduction act.
As you know, Health Canada's primary mandate is to protect the health and safety of Canadians. We support the government's red tape reduction action plan, including enshrining the one-for-one rule in law to target and control administrative burden on business. Cutting red tape to business fosters growth, competitiveness, job creation, and innovation.
As one of the government's major regulators, Health Canada is committed to reducing regulatory administrative burden to industry, while ensuring that the health and safety of Canadians is not compromised.
Health Canada has an ambitious regulatory modernization agenda and follows good regulatory design principles, including the reduction of unnecessary administrative burden to industry. The good practices required by the one-for-one rule are consistent with departmental approaches to regulatory design.
With respect to reducing administrative burden, it is now a matter of practice within Health Canada that the development of regulations includes an assessment of the cost, alternatives, and consideration of ways to reduce the imposition of administrative burden on regulated parties, particularly small business.
This practice is embedded in the design of our regulations. Stakeholders are consulted throughout the regulatory development process, including on the assessment and costing of administrative burden, as well as identifying alternatives to minimize the burden without compromising on health and safety requirements.
Stakeholder consultations begin early and include publishing regulations in the Canada Gazette, part I. This pre-publication of regulations gives all Canadians a chance to submit their comments about a proposed regulation well before it is made. Bill C-21 would allow for a 24-month reconciliation of administrative burden. This flexibility over two years respects the realities of the timelines involved in introducing new or amended regulations through the Canada Gazette process.
ln implementing the requirements of the one-for-one rule over the past two years, we have recognized that there are opportunities within the 95 regulations which we administer to cut red tape and minimize burden on businesses while continuing to meet our mandate of protecting the health and safety of Canadians. These two objectives of health and safety and administrative burden reduction are not incompatible.
Here is an example of how Health Canada has been able to do just that: reduce administrative burden on business without compromising the health and safety of Canadians.
Pharmacists and their regulatory associations told us that certain requirements under the food and drug regulations were out of step with more modern provincial legislation and were unnecessarily prescriptive, requiring pharmacists to perform functions which could be safely performed by pharmacy technicians. We listened and amended the provisions that regulate prescription drugs. The regulations now allow the transfer of prescriptions by pharmacy technicians, an administrative task that was previously administered solely by pharmacists. This means that community pharmacies and retailers that dispense prescriptions may better utilize the skills of lower-salaried pharmacy technicians, thereby reducing the overall operating and administrative costs of business.
This change alone represents a net annual reduction of almost $15 million in unnecessary administrative burden and does not compromise the health and safety of Canadians. lt was of benefit to everyone, was practical, and made good sense.
As of June 2014, the department has contributed to approximately 70% of government-wide administrative cost reductions.
Health Canada will continue to seek opportunities to reduce unnecessary regulatory burden to industry implementing the one-for-one rule while protecting the health and safety of Canadians.
Furthermore, the department has embedded in its regulatory design a small business lens assessment to consider flexible regulatory options that reduce costs to small businesses.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today on this important issue. I'm happy to answer your questions.
NDP
The Chair NDP Pierre-Luc Dusseault
Thank you for your presentation and for being here today.
Without further ado, I give the floor to Mr. Beale and Mr. Lindale, for a maximum of 10 minutes.
Please go ahead.
Mike Beale Assistant Deputy Minister, Environmental Stewardship Branch, Department of the Environment
Mr. Chair, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you on behalf of Environment Canada about Bill C-21, the red tape reduction act.
My name is Mike Beale. I'm the assistant deputy minister for environmental stewardship at Environment Canada. I'm here today with Stewart Lindale, who is the director of regulatory innovation and management systems at Environment Canada. Stewart oversees implementation of the one-for-one rule for the department.
Environment Canada administers over a dozen acts and more than 70 regulations that support the department's goal to provide Canadians with a clean, safe and sustainable environment.
The department has an active regulatory agenda. Our forward regulatory plan contains 42 initiatives that we anticipate advancing over the next two years. Since the one-for-one rule was introduced in April 2012, we have completed approximately 33 regulations or regulatory amendments.
As one of the government's most active regulatory departments, Environment Canada has, for many years, emphasized the importance of continual improvement in pursuit of regulatory excellence, and places high importance on strengthening the capacity of its people and its regulatory systems.
Before amending an existing regulation or designing a new one, we seek to ensure that it will be the right tool to achieve the risk management objective. When designing a regulation, we strive to ask only for information that is needed and only as often as required, maximize the use of online reporting, and actively engage regulatees in discussing ways to reduce administrative burden without compromising the attainment of environmental objectives.
To date, the one-for-one rule has been triggered for eleven Environment Canada regulatory initiatives, three of which added burden, and eight of which were regulatory amendments that reduced administrative burden without compromising environmental protection. In total, we have attained a net reduction in administrative burden of approximately $1.6 million over the past two years.
Environment Canada has actively engaged with the Treasury Board Secretariat in the implementation of the government's regulatory reform agenda, and going forward, we will continue to strive to minimize burden on Canadian business while fulfilling our environmental protection mandate.
Thank you.
I would be pleased to answer any questions.
NDP
The Chair NDP Pierre-Luc Dusseault
Thank you for your presentation, Mr. Beale.
I now give the floor to Mr. Ravignat, for five minutes.
NDP
Mathieu Ravignat NDP Pontiac, QC
First of all, I would like to thank you for being here.
In your opinion, who will perform an assessment to determine whether or not a regulation will be eliminated, and whether that would have an impact on Canadians' health or the environment?
Director General, Policy, Planning and International Affairs Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
Sure, I can start.
We take an approach where we outline in our forward plan the regulations that we will be advancing, and under this legislation, we are required to remove or repeal a regulation only if administrative burden has been added with a new regulation. It's not for every regulation amendment that we actually have to reduce a regulation. That is very clear.
Where there is a requirement to reduce a regulation, it doesn't have to be exactly in the area where a new regulation has been added. The legislation and the guidance that comes with it allows the flexibility for the minister to remove a regulation within his or her portfolio. It also allows for a two-year period for that to take place.
NDP
Mathieu Ravignat NDP Pontiac, QC
So, the Minister of Health or the Minister of the Environment, for example, would have the last word.
Director General, Policy, Planning and International Affairs Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
In the department, there is planning for the regulations that will be put in place. We also consult on which regulations will be repealed. It is a very open and transparent process. We do engage stakeholders throughout that process, through our pre-consultation phase, and then also through the Canada Gazette. At the end of that, it does advance to the Treasury Board, and then there is the point where it is repealed.
NDP
Mathieu Ravignat NDP Pontiac, QC
Mr. Beale, do you think the environment should have been mentioned in this bill's preamble?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Environmental Stewardship Branch, Department of the Environment
I do not have an opinion on the exact wording of the act.
NDP
Mathieu Ravignat NDP Pontiac, QC
It seems strange that subjects such as health and safety are mentioned, but not the environment. Indeed, there is a clear link between the environment and Canadians' health as well as their safety. Here on the opposition side, we would have appreciated that the environment be taken into account.
I would like to ask you a more specific question.
Under the one-for-one rule, regulatory entities must compensate for new burdens within two years of the final approval of regulatory amendments.
Is that two-year deadline difficult to meet?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Environmental Stewardship Branch, Department of the Environment
The estimation of the administrative burden that we can reduce from existing regulations in order to balance any additional administrative burden from new regulations is an ongoing exercise. Our experience with the one-for-one rule is that it has encouraged us to focus very carefully on our existing stock of regulations, review them, and see what opportunities there may be to reduce administrative burden where it exists. That's an ongoing exercise, and we continue to do that to ensure we have that balance of administrative costs we can reduce in order to offset any additional administrative cost.
Director General, Policy, Planning and International Affairs Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
Along the same lines, with forward planning, with the two-year forward plan, and a regular review of the regulations that we have in place, there is that flexibility also with the two years. There's the flexibility of carrying a balance forward. I've mentioned we do have a balance in Health Canada already of $15 million for administrative burden reduction. Then it's also taking a portfolio approach, so it can be across the entire portfolio, across a stock of 95 regulations. So there is significant flexibility in that.
NDP
Mathieu Ravignat NDP Pontiac, QC
Ms. Weber, Mr. Beale, you briefly described the regulatory process that aims to protect Canadian health and the environment. However, I get the impression that the public believes these decisions are to some degree beyond their control.