An Act to amend the Department of Industry Act (small businesses)

Summary#

Bill C-291, An Act to amend the Department of Industry Act (small businesses), would amend the Department of Industry Act; it would not create a separate small-business agency. Its stated goal is to protect and promote small businesses’ role in the Canadian economy.

• The Minister of Industry would have to examine each bill introduced or presented in either House by a federal minister, and each regulation that must be tabled there, for a possible significant effect on Canadian small businesses.
• If the Minister finds a possible significant effect, the Minister would have to arrange for an impact assessment to be tabled before the relevant House at the first convenient opportunity. For a proposed regulation, the assessment would have to be published with it in the Canada Gazette.
• Assessments would have to consider access to financial assistance, investment conditions, small businesses’ participation in competitive markets, and a “net positive impact” principle concerning their sustainability.
• The Governor in Council could make regulations setting the significance test, assessment process, required content and meaning of the net-positive-impact principle.

What it means for you#

• Federal ministers and the Minister of Industry: The Minister would have a new statutory duty to screen the specified bills and regulations and, when the test is met, arrange an assessment. The bill does not require the Minister to change or withdraw the initiative.
• Small businesses: The bill would not give businesses a new benefit or require them to apply, report information, pay a fee or meet new rules. It would require certain proposed federal measures to be assessed for their effects on them.
• Other bill sponsors: The screening duty covers bills introduced or presented by a minister of the Crown. The text does not extend it to every bill introduced by a member of Parliament.
• General public: The bill would add a small-business-protection purpose to the Act and require some assessments to be made public. It does not guarantee that a proposal will have a net positive effect.

Money#

No publicly available information on cost is included in the supplied material.

• The bill would require the Minister to arrange assessments, but gives no estimate for staff time, assessment costs or other public spending.
• Regulations could require assessments to describe expected costs and benefits for businesses. The text does not itself set a fee, fine, tax or business payment.

What is unclear#

• The bill does not define “small business” or “significant effect.” It allows regulations to set how significance is decided. Its reference to businesses with fewer than 50 employees concerns possible assessment content; it does not define all small businesses in the bill.
• The bill leaves the assessment process and required content largely to regulations. No regulations are supplied, so the practical requirements are not known.
• The bill does not explain how the “net positive impact” principle would be applied, or require a proposal to achieve a net positive result.
• The supplied text gives no start date. The Department of Industry Act itself was not supplied, so existing ministerial duties and how these changes would fit with them could not be verified.

Case for#

• The bill appears intended to make the federal government consider effects on small businesses before proceeding with certain bills and regulations.
• Requiring assessments could make potential costs and benefits more visible to Parliament and, for proposed regulations, the public.
• Considering access to finance, investment and market participation could help ensure those issues are part of the assessment rather than overlooked.

Case against#

• The bill does not require the government to change a proposal even if an assessment finds significant costs or harm to small businesses.
• Key terms and the assessment process depend on regulations that are not included. The practical reach and detail of the duty are therefore uncertain.
• The bill creates assessment work but supplies no cost estimate or staffing plan.
• The text does not explain how the assessments would weigh effects on different small businesses, or how the net-positive-impact principle would guide decisions in practice.