Question Period Note: RED TAPE REDUCTION

Q1 – What are the key regulatory functions that the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food oversees?
Q2 – Are there opportunities to modernize Canada’s agriculture and agri-food regulatory system?
Q3 – Was the 60-day Review a new initiative?
Q4 – What follows the Red Tape Progress Report?
Q5 – How will AAFC ensure its contribution to the red tape reduction and regulatory reform?

R1 - AAFC oversees over 200 regulatory instruments, which derive their authority from over a dozen acts. These regulatory instruments are designed to enable the creation of programming and services, including assisting producers in managing business risks; supporting marketing of agricultural products; and facilitating competitiveness and trade.
R2 - While Canada’s agricultural science-based regulatory system is strong, there are opportunities to improve. Stakeholders have pointed to regulatory system challenges associated with complexity, unnecessary administrative burden, and long approval times for new products and technologies as a significant impediment to growth and innovation.
AAFC works closely with regulatory partners on regulatory modernization opportunities, including efforts to ensure the perspectives and realities of the agriculture and agri-food sectors are well understood.
R3 - Yes. It builds on, focuses, and accelerates work that the Treasury Board Secretariat undertakes with federal departments and agencies on an ongoing basis to review their regulations and identify opportunities to improve Canada’s regulatory environment, including to lower the federal administrative burden on business.
This work is reported annually in the Annual Report for the 2023 to 2024 Fiscal Year: Federal Regulatory Management Initiatives.
R4 - This report, along with others from federal regulators including Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, represents the start of a substantial red tape reduction agenda for the agriculture and agri-food sector.
The report also underscores the importance of a vehicle to advance red tape initiatives that require legislative modernization to facilitate regulatory changes.
AAFC and its portfolio partners remain committed to red tape reduction, improving user experience, leveraging technology as a tool for promoting modernization, improving stakeholder engagement, and continuing to collaborate as we strive towards a more agile regulatory framework in the agriculture and agri-food sector.
The Government is currently engaging stakeholders in a Horizontal Review consultation that was launched on December 3, 2025, and closes on February 28, 2026. This review focuses on system-wide opportunities to simplify regulation and reduce costs for Canadians and businesses, and includes five themes:
1. Supporting regulatory efficiency for project reviews;
2. Getting products to market faster;
3. Reducing barriers to business productivity;
4. Supporting international trade and greater efficiency at the border;
5. Enhancing regulatory service delivery.
R5 - The sector viewed this exercise as an opportunity to re-iterate longstanding calls for regulatory modernization in the agriculture sector, as such they have made many submissions and calls for improvements.
Many of these concerns have been brought forward to AAFC through discussions at the Agile Regulations Table - known as the ART - especially broader regulatory policy issues such as cumulative burden and streamlining processes. The ART has engaged with stakeholders ranging from independent farms to national associations to better understand concerns and identify targets for alleviating cumulative regulatory burden.
AAFC routinely analyzes stakeholder input to identify areas to pursue regulatory modernization. AAFC continues to seek opportunities to improve the regulatory system, including through regulatory experimentation and pilot projects.
Furthermore, AAFC continues to ensure that the perspectives and realities of the agriculture and agri-food sector are well understood in broader discussions about regulatory, labour and supply chain challenges, and the subsequent development and implementation of solutions.
AAFC will continue to support Government-wide initiatives led by the Red Tape Reduction Office, which was established in summer 2025, and is housed at the Treasury Board Secretariat.

Canada’s agriculture and agri-food regulatory framework is considered among the most robust internationally, supported by science-based decisions, trusted food regulatory bodies, and a regulatory regime that strives to adjust to emerging challenges. These strengths can also lead to complexity which can be challenging for businesses and producers to navigate and perceived as limiting for economic growth, innovation, and competitiveness.
AAFC has been working with other regulators – primarily the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Health Canada and its Pest Management Regulatory Agency – to address regulatory challenges facing the sector. This includes following the Cabinet Directive on Regulation (developing, managing, reviewing) and the Red Tape Reduction Act (2015).
On July 9, 2025, the President of the Treasury Board launched a 60-day Red Tape Review of regulations across departments and agencies with regulatory responsibilities. AAFC and its portfolio partners welcomed this opportunity to highlight efforts to modernize agriculture regulations – to reduce red tape, improve service delivery, and support innovation – without compromising the health, safety, or environment for Canadians.
On September 8, 2025, AAFC and other regulators published their progress reports on red tape reduction. Through a variety of initiatives outlined in its report, AAFC is working to support a more streamlined and agile approach to the regulatory system. Looking ahead, AAFC’s report also highlights many important areas of regulatory and legislative modernization which will drive our agenda forward. Canada’s Red Tape Reduction Office, led out of the Treasury Board, will be working with federal regulators to move these initiatives forward, including undertaking consultations with partners and stakeholders.
AAFC’s Red Tape Progress Report:
• AAFC and its portfolio partners have made headway to support a more streamlined and agile approach to the regulatory system. For example, through digitalization, eliminating duplicative and unnecessary burden, developing clearer guidance, and modernizing regulatory frameworks.
• The report identifies 19 initiatives, of which 6 have been achieved and 13 are ongoing or upcoming. Of the ongoing and upcoming initiatives underway, most are anticipated to be completed within the next two years or require legislative modernization.
• One initiative to note, through the Department’s Agile Regulations Table – a novel government-stakeholder collaboration model launched in 2020 – we have prioritized regulatory innovation and agility by jointly engaging industry and regulators to determine priorities and pursue regulatory innovation and experimentation. Industry stakeholders range from independent farms to national associations. Through this table, we will continue to address the cumulative and economic impacts of regulations, aim to resolve persistent regulatory irritants, and enable innovation through pilot projects.
Input previously shared by stakeholders in the agriculture and agri-food sector will be included in the reviews and does not need to be resubmitted. Following the consultation, the Treasury Board Secretariat will engage with regulators to help inform analysis and next steps.

• The Government is committed to building one Canadian economy through improved internal trade and reducing regulatory barriers.
• Accelerating regulatory modernization and reducing red tape will drive economic growth and competitiveness, including in the agriculture and agri-food sector, saving Canadians and businesses time and money.
• In response to the call for a Red Tape Review last summer, departments and agencies reviewed their regulations and ongoing initiatives and published reports detailing their early achievements and next steps to cut red tape. In December, the Government launched a horizontal review to focus on system-wide opportunities to simplify regulation and reduce costs for Canadians and businesses.
• Government regulators and partners in the agriculture and agri-food regulatory system are striving to modernize regulations to reduce red tape, improve service delivery, and support innovation – without compromising the health, safety, or the environment for Canadians.