Our mandate is to propose a regulatory strategy for Canada for the 21st century that protects the health and safety of Canadians and of the environment, while contributing to innovation and competitiveness. We have also been asked to identify sectors and areas requiring priority attention and to provide an external perspective on a number of regulatory issues.

Preliminary Fact-Finding

A first step in our work will be to return to the various unsolicited submissions we received from industry associations, consumer groups, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders on the subject of regulation generally, and on what they believe should be the priority issues for the EACSR. We also took note of the advice and suggestions we received through bilateral meetings with stakeholders and via briefings from senior federal officials and expert consultants on the regulatory challenges and opportunities confronting the federal government. Finally, we commissioned research into how other jurisdictions have sought or are seeking to renew and revitalize their regulatory systems to advance various public policy objectives.

In addition to reviewing the experiences outside of Canada, our Secretariat is working closely with the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Working Group on Regulatory Reform co-chaired by Industry Canada and the Province of British Columbia. The Working Group hopes to distil the collective wisdom from provincial-territorial efforts at regulatory reform and draw a certain number of key guiding principles, as an input to the work of the EACSR.

Based on these initial inputs, our Committee has begun formulating a work plan to enable us to meet the ambitious target that has been set for us to deliver a final report within 12-15 months. If you would like to comment on our work plan, please visit Make a Submission.

As you might expect, identifying which aspects of Canada's regulatory system to focus on is a key decision for a time-limited Advisory Committee whose members work on a part-time basis. Since we cannot possibly address every challenge confronting Canada's regulatory system, or every issue that is brought to our attention, it is imperative that we focus our efforts on a limited number of areas where we feel we can make an important contribution. Indeed, we are mindful that bridging knowledge gaps, identifying emerging regulatory issues and providing a fresh perspective on current ones will be as important a part of our legacy as will be our final recommendations for change.

EACSR's Work Plan

Our current thinking is to focus our research and fact-finding efforts on six over-arching issues:

• International Cooperation
• Federal-Provincial-Territorial Cooperation
• Process Efficiency
• Risk Management
• Instruments for Government Action
• Defining the Public Interest

We are in the process of developing discussion papers, commissioning research or preparing case studies relevant to these issues, all of which will be posted on our interactive website to provide a foundation for our consultation efforts.

Outreach

The EACSR's interactive web site will be the primary vehicle through which we will share information with the public and stakeholders and obtain their input and advice. However, as part of our work plan, we intend to work closely with the regulatory community, both within and outside of government, to increase the "reach" of our efforts and to be as accessible as possible to Canadians.