Program at a glance

The program design is a nine-module offering (including one study tour) beginning in the fall of each year. The first two modules are “Base Camps” intended to refresh and confirm a shared understanding of the fundamentals of regulation. Thereafter, the main part of the program consists of six day-and-a-half modules, one for each stage of the regulatory life cycle, plus a three-day study tour in Canada. The final module is a day-and-a-half capstone experience that integrates and synthesizes learning from preceding modules and fosters discussion of future challenges.

Module #1 & #2: Base Camp

The Base Camps are an overview of the basics of regulation, as seen from a senior leadership perspective. The emphasis is on understanding the foundational principles and concepts, understanding the role of Government, a regulator’s duty of care and the evolving Canadian regulatory environment, distinguishing between partners, clients and stakeholders, and considering the major relationships and methods used to advance regulatory files. The session ends with a review of the lifecycle approach to regulation and a discussion of how the remaining modules of the program track this as a learning pathway.

Module #3: Issue identification and assessment: gathering, understanding and using evidence

Participants will work with three major ideas in Module #3. First, they will explore creating and expanding situational awareness in relation to issues emerging or likely to emerge in their environments that have potential to become regulatory concerns. Second, they will consider the interplay of evidence and societal values in guiding regulatory decisions, including the impact of value-based assumptions on risk assessments and key factors that influence the degree of precaution in any given decision framework. Third, they will examine the methods, techniques and best practices used in communicating, consulting, collaborating and cooperating with stakeholders in relation to these issues.

Module #4: Regulatory Strategy 1: Selection and design of instruments

Participants will work with three major ideas in Module #4. First, they will explore the advantages and disadvantages of various instruments ranging from incentives to coercion. Second, they will examine the concepts of performance-based, adaptive and co-regulation including different ways of applying these concepts. Finally, they will consider the challenges of aligning and meshing different regulatory systems in international and national domains and discuss how best to communicate, collaborate and cooperate with different partners and stakeholders, including Indigenous groups.

Module #5: Study Tour

The program will include a three-day study tour within Canada that is organized as an action-learning event where participants experience an issue at first hand and see the context for themselves and become more aware of the nuanced complexity involved in regulation and the need for pragmatic choices when selecting, designing and implementing a regulatory strategy.

Module #6: Regulatory Strategy 2: Selection and design of instruments

In Module #6 participants will continue their study of selection and design of regulatory instruments, adding a focus on the regulatory impact analysis including the use and limitations of cost-benefit analyses. The Cohort will consider the effects of regulations on trade flows and value chains (and vice versa) and the impact on fragile economies.  This will include consideration of the major stages in a generic process to identify choke points and areas where innovation may be possible.

Module #7: Regulation Implementation & Management

In Module #7 participants will deal with the operational challenges of managing compliance and enforcement. The Cohort will work with subject matter experts on using different strategies and approaches to secure compliance. Participants will consider the importance of understanding the experience of compliance at the point of service delivery.  With this as context, time is devoted to the challenges of managing teams of professional and technical specialists bridging fields as diverse as science or engineering, policy, law and enforcement.

Module #8: Review & Evaluation

In Module #8 participants will deal with the requirement to review and evaluate regulations and regulatory programs. More importantly, the session will also be an opportunity to discuss how to listen, learn and incorporate changes in a regulatory program based on feedback from stakeholders and partners.

Module #9: Capstone & The Way Forward

In Module #9 participants will integrate and synthesize the experience of the program and give consideration to the way forward for regulation in Canada.