About Us

The Regulatory Affairs Sector, transferred in July 2006 from Privy Council Office, supports the Treasury Board Committee in its role as the "Queen's privy council for Canada" by providing advice to the Governor General and by providing management and oversight of the government's regulatory function. In addition, it provides policy leadership on the federal regulatory policy, a.k.a. Cabinet Directive on Streamlining Regulation (CDSR).

As such, the Sector is engaged in two key functions: (1) support of government priorities through continuous improvement of the policy; and (2) advise Treasury Board Ministers on Governor in Council (GIC) submissions.

It delivers on its mandate by undertaking policy research and analysis, and developing policy and associated frameworks; providing reliable and timely advice to departments on regulatory policy interpretation and application; reviewing regulatory and non-regulatory submissions to the GIC (except for appointments) and, among other things, ensuring submissions adhere to the CDSR; ensuring that relevant information is provided for decision-making of the GIC; contributing to learning programs that strengthen all of government regulatory capacity, particularly their understanding of regulatory policy requirements; and brokering the resolution of issues through interdepartmental co-ordination and horizontal policy management.

The sector is also developing a third function, the Centre of Regulatory Expertise (CORE), which will assist departments in building their internal capacity to comply with the Directive, particularly in the areas of cost-benefit analysis, risk assessment and performance measurement and evaluation. The CORE will assist departments through its team of internal experts and by cost-sharing the services of external experts/consultants in cases where CORE experts are not available and departments do not have sufficient funds to fund external experts. The CORE is scheduled to launch in fall 2007.