Environment Canada as a World Class Regulator

Objective:

The objective of the World-Class Regulator (WCR) initiative is to strengthen how Environment Canada (EC) develops and implements regulatory instruments so that they effectively achieve their intended benefits for Canadians while ensuring minimal administrative cost and burden to industries and small business in Canada.

As one of the federal government’s most active regulators, EC has wide-ranging regulatory powers and seeks to address increasingly complex environmental challenges. Given these realities, it is necessary for EC to aim for progressively higher levels of regulatory excellence.

To meet these challenges, EC has embarked on a continuous improvement initiative to establish itself as a world-class regulator. Specifically, EC has engaged employees in an internal evaluation of its regulatory activities using five key criteria:

• Evidence-based decision making
• Effectiveness
• Efficiency
• Adaptability
• Transparency

Based on this analysis, the WCR project is identifying specific priority areas for improvement; cross-cutting areas for improvement; and best practices that will be shared across departmental regulatory program areas and integrated into training and development.

The WCR project was started prior to the Red Tape Reduction Initiative and is not explicitly aimed at reducing red tape. It is likely, however, that there will be some red tape reduction benefits associated with the WCR project.

Target Audience:

The regulated community and stakeholders who are impacted by the EC’s regulatory activities

Start Date and End Date:

The WCR project was initiated during the summer of 2010 with the publication of an internal discussion paper aimed at defining the concept of a world-class regulator. Implementation activities are ongoing.

Responsible Department or Agency:

Environment Canada (EC)

Partners:

EC expects to share the results of the WCR project with its government and stakeholder partners in the fall 2011.

Summary:

The WCR project consists of three distinct phases:

• Taking stock of EC’s current regulatory activity and processes;
• Assessing them against the WCR criteria; and
• Analyzing the assessment results, defining a work plan of priority areas for improvement, and disseminating best practices.

Link:

No departmental site is available at the moment.

For additional information, please contact:

The WCR project is co-chaired by:

John Moffet
Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Directorate
Environment Canada
Telephone: 819-953-2833
Email: john.moffet@ec.gc.ca

Matt Parry
Strategic Policy Directorate
Environment Canada
Telephone: 819-934-0257
Email: matt.parry@ec.gc.ca