Forward Regulatory Plan: 2020 to 2022
From Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)
Official title: Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) - Forward Regulatory Plan: 2020 to 2022
Introduction
This Forward Regulatory Plan provides information on regulatory initiatives that Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) aims to propose or finalize in the next 2 years through:
- pre-publication in the Canada Gazette, Part I
- final publication in the Canada Gazette, Part II
The Forward Regulatory Plan may also include regulatory initiatives that are planned to come forward over a longer time frame. Comments or enquiries can be made using the ESDC contact information included with each regulatory initiative.
Regulatory Initiatives
Regulatory initiatives planned or anticipated to be proposed or finalized between 2020 and 2022.
- Amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations – Strengthening worker protections
- Regulations to operationalize sections of the Accessible Canada Act related to the preparation and publication of accessibility plans and progress reports, the establishment of feedback processes, and the establishment of administrative monetary penalties to promote compliance and enforce non-compliance
- Regulations amending the Canada Disability Savings Regulations
- Miscellaneous amendment regulations amending the Canada Education Savings Regulations
Consult ESDC's acts and regulations web page for:
- a list of acts and regulations administered by ESDC
- further information on ESDC's implementation of government-wide regulatory management initiatives
Consult the following for links to the Cabinet Directive on Regulation and supporting policies and guidance, and for information on government-wide regulatory initiatives implemented by departments and agencies across the Government of Canada:
To learn about upcoming or ongoing consultations on proposed federal regulations, visit:
Amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations – Strengthening worker protections
Enabling act
Financial Administration Act; Financial Administration Act
Description
The objective of these amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations is to enhance the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and International Mobility Program employer compliance regimes, and improve program integrity, to strengthen protections for foreign workers.
Indication of business impacts
There may be business impacts. The "One-for-One" Rule and/or the small business lens may apply. These amendments consist largely of obligations that are already in policy. Therefore, there could be some incremental compliance or administrative costs to small business but they will be of minimal impact relative to current requirements.
Regulatory cooperation efforts (domestic and international)
These amendments do not involve regulatory cooperation efforts. The sections of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations to which these amendments apply do not involve either international or domestic regulatory cooperation.
Public consultation opportunities
The Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA) delivered its report, Temporary Foreign Worker Program – Report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, on June 15, 2016.
Between mid-August and mid-October 2017, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program consulted with various stakeholders, including migrant worker support organizations, non-government organizations, consulate liaison officers, temporary foreign workers, provincial and territorial governments, and employers, to identify improvements to worker protections.
Additionally, further consultation will be sought through publication in Canada Gazette, Part I. Target for pre-publication is to be determined.
Further Information
The Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA) provided an analysis of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and the need for strengthened worker protections and an improved compliance regime in its report (Temporary Foreign Worker Program – Report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities), which was published on June 15, 2016.
Departmental Contact Information
Jonathan Wallace
Executive Director, Temporary Foreign Worker Program
Skills and Employment Branch
Employment and Social Development Canada
819-654-8446
jonathan.wallace@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca
Date the regulatory initiative was first included in the Forward Regulatory Plan
October 1, 2017
Regulations to operationalize sections of the Accessible Canada Act related to the preparation and publication of accessibility plans and progress reports, the establishment of feedback processes, and the establishment of administrative monetary penalties to promote compliance and enforce non-compliance
Enabling Act
Description of the objective
The foundational regulations (Planning and Reporting Requirements and Administrative Monetary Penalties Regulations) will detail how and when entities must implement planning and reporting requirements under the Accessible Canada Act. They will also establish an administrative monetary penalties framework that will apply to current and future regulations under the Act.
Furthermore, the proposed regulations will specify the time and manner by which federally regulated entities must publish the following reporting requirements: accessibility plans, descriptions of their feedback processes, and progress reports.
They will also specify the time and manner by which the Accessibility Commissioner must be notified of the publication of these reporting requirements as well as the form and manner by which people may request these documents in alternate formats, and the alternate formats that entities must provide if requested.
These proposed regulations would provide clarity to both federally regulated entities and the public on when and how reporting requirements must be published.
The regulatory proposals on administrative monetary penalties will specify the monetary penalties for the "minor", "serious", or "very serious" violations as well as determine which violations under the Act fall under which classification. Regulations will also establish the time and manner by which entities must pay penalties as well as the circumstances under which penalties can be decreased.
The Accessible Canada Act establishes a requirement that the first set of regulations be in place within 2 years of the Act coming into force (in other words by July 2021).
Indication of business impacts
There will be business impacts. The "One-for-One" Rule and/or the small business lens will apply.
While new reporting requirements will mean additional costs for federally regulated businesses, these new obligations are already in the act. The proposed regulations themselves mostly bring consistency and clarity to the application of the Act, rather than creating significant additional costs in and of themselves.
Small business lens
ESDC is in the process of analyzing what regulatory measures can be taken to decrease the cost of compliance for small businesses. This approach is consistent with the broader Government of Canada objective to consider the potential impacts of proposed regulatory initiatives and design regulations that only impose those requirements that are truly necessary to achieve regulatory outcomes.
Regulatory cooperation efforts (domestic and international)
n/a
Public consultation opportunities
ESDC has consulted with over 300 disability stakeholders, industry representatives, and government departments and agencies on the development of regulations. Consultation activities include a webinar on the regulatory process itself and regulatory making authority in the Act (February 2019); as well as teleconferences on reporting requirements and administrative monetary penalties with disability stakeholders (March 2019), industry (June 2019), and government entities and unions (July 2019).
ESDC also sent stakeholders examples of other types of plans and enforcement regimes and received over 25 submissions in response.
Further consultation will be sought through the publication in Canada Gazette, Part 1. Target for pre-publication is winter 2020/2021.
Further information
n/a
Departmental contact information
Rupa Bwahal-Montmorency
Director General
Regulatory and Standards Development Unit
Accessibility Secretariat
Income Security and Social Development Branch
Employment and Social Development Canada
819-230-4916
rupa.b.montmorency@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca
Date the regulatory initiative was first included in the Forward Regulatory Plan
Date of publication fall 2020
Regulations amending the Canada Disability Savings Regulations
Enabling act(s)
Description of the objective
The objective of these amendments to the Canada Disability Savings Regulations is, in conjunction with related amendments to the Income Tax Act, to fully implement Budget 2019 measures that will benefit persons with severe disabilities, but more particularly those whose condition improves. Budget 2019 proposed to eliminate the current requirement to close a Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP), and to repay the grants and bonds paid into the RDSP during the preceding 10 years that a financial institution is obliged to set aside when the beneficiary no longer qualifies for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC) (called the assistance holdback amount).
The amendments to the Canada Disability Savings Regulations will ensure that a financial institution no longer has to repay the government the assistance holdback amount merely because a beneficiary has become DTC-ineligible. In addition, the amendments will modify the assistance holdback period for RDSP beneficiaries who are no longer DTC eligible, and are between the ages of 51 and 59, by providing for a gradual reduction in the assistance holdback amount each year after the year in which the beneficiary turns 50 years of age.
Seventeen financial institutions and authorized agents currently offer RDSPs to the public. Some financial institutions will incur costs to change their systems. Financial institutions will also incur staff training costs – explaining to employees how the proposal works; however, these costs are expected to be modest.
Indication of business impacts
There may be business impacts. The "One-for-One" Rule and/or the small business lens may apply.
Regulatory cooperation efforts (domestic and international)
n/a
Public consultation opportunities
The proposal for a phased reduction over 10 years in the assistance holdback amount, after the calendar year in which a beneficiary turns 50 years of age, first appeared in Budget 2019. This announcement provided the public with some advance notice of the planned regulatory changes. In July 2019, Finance Canada published, for consultation, a news release containing draft legislative proposals to implement the tax measures announced in Budget 2019. Although the draft legislative proposals to amend the Canada Disability Savings Regulations were not included in the release, the release provided another opportunity for the public to provide feedback on the initiatives.
Following Budget 2019, some stakeholders expressed their support for the proposed changes announced in Budget 2019.
Further information
- 2019 report from the Disability Advisory Committee
- 2018 report from the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology
Information on the changes proposed in Budget 2019 to the RDSP:
- Improvements to the Registered Disability Savings Plan
- Registered Disability Savings Plan – Cessation of Eligibility for the Disability Tax Credit
Departmental contact information
Krista Wilcox
Director General
Office for Disability Issues
Income Security and Social Development Branch
Employment and Social Development Canada
819-654-5577
Krista.wilcox@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca
Date the regulatory initiative was first included in the Forward Regulatory Plan
Date of publication fall 2020
Miscellaneous Amendment Regulations Amending the Canada Education Savings Regulations
Enabling act(s)
Description of the objective
The amendment to the Canada Education Savings Regulations (CESR) addresses 2 observations raised by the Standing Joint Committee on the Scrutiny of Regulations (SJCSR).
On April 15, 2019, the SJCSR wrote to the Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) raising issues with the recent regulatory amendment that was published in the Canada Gazette, Part II, on December 26, 2018. On August 20, 2019, ESDC responded to the SJCSR agreeing to amend the CESR for 2 of the items and offering a rebuttal for the third item.
The first item is to correct a language discrepancy in subsection 10(2)(b) of the CESR where the French CESR includes the work "éventuel", but the English CESR is missing its equivalent. The proposal is to remove "éventuel" from the French version of the CESR.
The second item is to correct an inconsistency present in sections 16(2), 16(3), 16(4), and 16(5) by replacing all known instances of "considéré" with "réputé" to align those paragraphs with subsection 17(3) of the CESR.
Indication of business impacts
There are no expected impacts on Canadians or businesses.
Regulatory cooperation efforts (domestic and international)
n/a
Public consultation opportunities
The Treasury Board Secretariat has triaged the 2 items as eligible for the Miscellaneous Amendment Regulations process and has exempted the items from pre-publication in the Canada Gazette Part I. Consultation is not required for amendments falling under the Miscellaneous Amendment Regulations process.
Further information
n/a
Departmental contact information
Chantal Simard
Director, Program Operations
Canada Education Savings Program, Learning Branch
Employment and Social Development
Canada
819-654-8497
chantal.simard@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca
Date the regulatory initiative was first included in the Forward Regulatory Plan
Date of publication fall 2020
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