HRAI Meets with Treasury Board Secretariat to Discuss Regulatory Harmonization Opportunities
On August 9, 2022, HRAI, along with representatives from AHRI and CIPH met with Canada’s Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) to discuss regulatory harmonization efforts between Canada and the United States. The meeting was convened as a follow-up to the June 27, 2022, letter submitted by the three associations in response to the TBS’s Let’s Talk Federal Regulations initiative. The purpose of the initiative is to reduce unnecessary regulatory barriers between the provinces and territories and other jurisdictions such as the United States.
The associations’ comments were directed specifically to the Canada-United States Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) and advocated for the development of a new work plan between Canadian and U.S. regulators focused on environment and climate change policies and regulations. This approach is modeled on the collaboration on energy efficiency regulation between NRCan and the US Department of Energy (DOE) that was spurred by the RCC in its early days (midway through the Obama administration).
If the RCC can be persuaded to facilitate the collaboration envisioned by HRAI and its allies, the focus would be on finding opportunities to align and cooperate on federal environment and climate change regulations and initiatives, particularly between Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and would be informed by key industry involvement.
While the RCC does not draft or enforce regulations, it does provide a forum for U.S. and Canadian regulators to meet and discuss critical and ongoing regulatory issues. Originally formed via an agreement between US President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Harper, the RCC generated some big wins early on but was de-emphasized under the Trump administration. More recently it has been revived and under the oversight of TBS, there is some renewed optimism that it could be instrumental in aiding the HVACR manufacturing sector in its quest for greater regulatory harmonization.
In follow-up to the warm response from TBS, HRAI, AHRI, and CIPH will submit a briefing document outlining specific regulatory industry concerns to initiate this process.
HRAI will keep members informed as this initiative unfolds.
If you have any questions, contact Stephen Chartrand at 1-800-267-2231 ext. 276 or email schartrand@hrai.ca.
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