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

This bill, introduced by Ms. May, would change the Department of Industry Act to add new responsibilities focused on protecting small businesses. It formally adds "protecting and promoting the role of small businesses" as one of the Minister of Industry's official duties.

The main practical change is a new requirement for "small business impact assessments." Whenever a government minister introduces a bill in Parliament, or when a regulation must be tabled in the House of Commons or Senate, the Minister of Industry would have to examine it to see whether it could significantly affect Canadian small businesses. If it could, the Minister would have to prepare and table an impact assessment alongside it. For proposed regulations specifically, this assessment would also need to be published in the Canada Gazette (the official government publication for new rules).

These assessments would need to consider things like whether small businesses can still access financial assistance, whether the law or regulation improves investment conditions, whether it could hinder small businesses from competing fairly in the marketplace, and whether the overall effect on small business sustainability is positive. The bill also allows the federal cabinet to create detailed regulations spelling out exactly how these assessments should be done, what they must cover, and how to define a "significant effect" or "net positive impact" for smaller businesses, generally understood here as those with fewer than 50 employees.

In short, the bill does not change any existing small business rules or taxes directly. Instead, it builds a new screening and reporting process into how future federal laws and regulations are developed, aiming to ensure their effects on small businesses are studied and made public before or as they take effect.

This bill amends the Department of Industry Act to require the Minister of Industry to assess and table small business impact assessments for government bills and regulations, and to let Cabinet make regulations governing that process.

• New duty on the Minister — the Minister must examine every government bill introduced in either House of Parliament and every regulation required to be tabled there, to determine whether any provision could have a significant effect on Canadian small businesses.
• Tabling requirement — where a significant effect is found, the Minister must cause a small business impact assessment to be tabled in that House "at the first convenient opportunity," a timeline that is not otherwise defined.
• Publication for regulations — if the legislative initiative is a proposed regulation, its impact assessment must be published alongside it in the Canada Gazette.
• Discretion in defining "significant effect" — the Act does not define what counts as a significant effect on small businesses; this determination is left to the Minister's assessment, guided by considerations such as access to financing, investment conditions, market competitiveness, and a "net positive impact" principle.
• Regulation-making power — the Governor in Council (Cabinet), on the Minister's recommendation, may make regulations setting out the considerations for deciding significant effect, the process for preparing assessments, the matters each assessment must address, and the meaning of "net positive impact" — leaving these substantive details to future regulations rather than the bill itself.
• Oversight — the bill's mechanism is tabling of assessments in Parliament and, for regulations, publication in the Canada Gazette; no appeal process, independent review body, or sunset clause is stated.