RegData Canada

What is RegData Canada?

RegData Canada extends the logic of the RegData US project to the Canadian federal government and provincial governments. Like RegData US and State RegData, RegData Canada datasets employ the QuantGov platform to download and analyze regulations issued by the Canadian federal government and each of the Canadian provincial governments, turning thousands of pages of dense regulatory text into datasets. While RegData US and State RegData are officially two distinct projects which handle US federal and state regulatory codes separately, the RegData Canada project includes data at both the national and provincial levels of Canadian Government (this also applies to RegData Australia). Each dataset contains the following data outputs for each piece of the Canadian federal government and Canadian provincial government regulatory codes: general metadata, restriction counts, word counts, complexity metrics, and relevance of content to specific industries. The production of each of the RegData Canada datasets requires unique code development. Interact with RegData Canada and compare metrics between Canadian provinces by using the RegCensus Explorer interactive. The data can be found using our interactive downloader or by using our API.

On this page you will find a selection of resources and information related to RegData Canada including:

1) A selection of videos and visualizations involving RegData Canada
2) Our regcensus explorer interactive, which can be used to quickly examine data related to state regulatory restrictions
3) An explanation of how to use our interactive downloader to retrieve data for Canadian provinces
4) A sample API call of Canadian data
5) A table with links to various research projects and academic papers that have made use of RegData Canada

 

Videos and Visualizations

11 min 40 sec video

 

Canadian Data and the Interactive Downloader

For most users seeking to explore RegData Canada, our interactive downloader is a great way to retrieve the data for different jurisdictions of interest. Below is a brief description on how to use the interactive downloader to retrieve Canadian RegData. For a more in-depth tutorial on how to use the interactive downloader, visit this page.

To get data for Canadian jurisdictions, first select Canada in the Country dropdown menu and the jurisdiction of interest in the Jurisdiction menu. Select National for federal level data, All Subnational Jurisdictions for data from every province but not the federal government, or select the specific province name if data for only one province is required (eg. Alberta). Select either Aggregate for summary level data, or Document for individual regulation level data. Many jurisdictions only have one year of data available.

RegData Canada has data for all of our standard series (word count, complexity metrics, restriction counts, restriction counts by industry, etc.) EXCEPT for restriction by agency data, which is unavailable due to the fact that the Canadian regulatory system does not involve regulatory agencies. These data types can be selected in the Series menu. RegData Canada is also different from US RegData in that Canada has a parliamentary system of government. As such, there is regulatory text contained both in the original “statutes” and the “regulations” they authorize. Users can select what type of regulatory text they want data for in the Document Type menu.

 

Research Using RegData Canada:

+ RegData Canada: An Overview

BY: Patrick McLaughlin, Scott Atherley, Stephen Strosko
DATE: March 13, 2019

Excerpt: “The RegData Canada project from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University was launched in summer of 2018. The methodology for RegData Canada was initially established in a paper by Omar Al-Ubaydli and Patrick McLaughlin in 2015 and extended in papers by McLaughlin and coauthors in 2017 and McLaughlin and Oliver Sherouse in 2018. To date, the RegData Canada project has released 14 unique datasets: a Canadian federal dataset and 13 provincial datasets. Following the methodology established in the original, US-focused RegData project (hereafter, RegData US), the datasets for the RegData Canada project (hereafter, RegData Canada) were created by applying text analysis and machine-learning algorithms to regulatory text issued by federal and provincial regulators. The datasets provide a variety of quantitative data and indicators, including regulatory restriction counts (by ministry or department), relevance of regulations to economic sectors and industries, the prevalence of incorporation by reference, linguistic complexity, the location of outdated language, and the likelihood that a regulation includes design standards. Additionally, these datasets have been used to create an interactive Canada Regulation Tracker, available online alongside the aforementioned datasets at QuantGov.org. RegData Canada allows policymakers to better identify and prioritize regulations that may need reform. RegData Canada follows the same methodology as other RegData projects, such as RegData US, facilitating comparative analysis of the economic effects of regulation and regulatory reform across Canadian provinces, US states, and countries"
+ RegData Canada: A Data-Driven Approach to Regulatory Reform

BY: Patrick McLaughlin
DATE: March 19, 2019

Excerpt: “RegData Canada, a data project from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University that was launched in 2018, allows regulators and policymakers to better identify and prioritize regulations that may need reform. The RegData Canada project involves applying customized text-analysis software and machine learning algorithms to regulatory text issued by federal and provincial regulators, resulting in 14 unique datasets: a Canadian federal dataset and 13 provincial datasets. All of these datasets are freely available online at QuantGov.org.""

+ RegData Canada: A Snapshot of Regulatory Restrictions in Canada’s Provinces

BY: Patrick McLaughlin, Stephen Strosko, Laura Jones
DATE: March 19, 2019

Exceprt: “RegData Canada provides a unit of measurement that is consistent between provinces. Figure 1 shows a wide range among the numbers of regulatory restrictions in each province, from Ontario’s high of 77,139 restrictions to Prince Edward Island’s low of 13,867 restrictions...At the federal level, data are available from 2006 to 2018. The data in figure 2 show a time-series count of federal regulatory restrictions over that period. Results indicate modest growth in total restrictions over the time period."
+ Cutting Red Tape in Canada: A Regulatory Reform Model for the United States?

BY: Laura Jones
DATE: November 11, 2015

Summary: “With reform-minded political leadership, a credible but simple measurement system, and a cap on the total burden of regulation, British Columbia was able to reduce its red tape burden and dramatically expand its economy. Governments in the United States that are interested in improving the welfare of their citizens should consider these lessons from Canada and seek to reduce red tape using a similar model."