Order in Council Directing that the Annual Report of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and the Annual Report of the Canada Energy Regulator Board of Directors Be Discontinued: SI/2026-55
Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 160, Number 20
Registration
SI/2026-55 October 7, 2026
FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION ACT
Order in Council Directing that the Annual Report of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and the Annual Report of the Canada Energy Regulator Board of Directors Be Discontinued
P.C. 2026-867 September 25, 2026
Whereas it appears to the Governor in Council that the annual report of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, required by section 72 of the Nuclear Safety and Control Actfootnote a to be laid before both Houses of Parliament, and the annual report of the Canada Energy Regulator Board of Directors, required by subsection 18(1) of the Canadian Energy Regulator Actfootnote b to be laid before both Houses of Parliament, contain the same information as or less information than is contained in the Public Accounts or in any estimates of expenditures submitted to Parliament;
Therefore, Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Natural Resources, under section 157footnote c of the Financial Administration Act footnote d, directs that the annual report of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, required by section 72 of the Nuclear Safety and Control Act footnote a to be laid before both Houses of Parliament, and the annual report of the Canada Energy Regulator Board of Directors, required by subsection 18(1) of the Canadian Energy Regulator Act footnote b to be laid before both Houses of Parliament, be discontinued.
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Order.)
Proposal
This Order is made under section 157 of the Financial Administration Act (FAA). The Order discontinues the requirement to table the annual reports of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and the Canada Energy Regulator Board of Directors in Parliament, given that these documents contain the same information as, or less information than, their respective Departmental Results Report, which are also tabled in Parliament.
Objective
The objective of the Order is to reduce duplication in reporting, thereby promoting the efficient use of departmental resources without compromising the level of information accessible to the public.
Background
Under the Canadian Energy Regulator Act and the Nuclear Safety Act, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources is required to table the annual reports of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and the Canada Energy Regulator (CER) Board of Directors in Parliament on their respective operations for the preceding fiscal year. In parallel, both organizations are also required to submit a Departmental Results Report to the Treasury Board Secretariat for tabling in Parliament by the President of the Treasury Board, which effectively serves the same purpose, namely to provide an account of each federal department or agency’s actual performance for the most recently completed fiscal year against the plans, priorities and expected results set out at the beginning of the year.
Under the Financial Administration Act, the Governor in Council may direct that an account, statement, return or other document be discontinued if it appears to contain the same information or less than is contained in the Public Accounts or in any estimates of expenditures submitted to Parliament. The Departmental Results Report is a Part III Estimates document.
As per the 2024 Guidelines on Streamlining - Statutory Reports to Parliament, the CER, the CNSC and Natural Resources Canada officials consulted with the Treasury Board Secretariat and received written confirmation that the annual reports could be discontinued pursuant to the Financial Administration Act. Based on a comparison of the CER and CNSC Departmental Results Reports and respective annual reports for the 2024–2025 fiscal year, the annual reports were found to contain the same or less information than is contained in the respective Departmental Results Reports, thus meeting the requirements of the Financial Administration Act. Both the CER and the CNSC have also committed to ensuring no loss of information will result from discontinuing their annual reports.
Similar orders have been made for the annual reports of the Northern Pipeline Agency (SI/2022-18) and the Canada Revenue Agency (SI/2016-63), among others.
Implications
Although not explicitly outlined in the 2025 Red Tape Review Reports for Natural Resources Canada, the CNSC or the CER, eliminating duplicative reporting for the CER and the CNSC will support the Government of Canada’s priority to reduce red tape by allowing both agencies to focus more time and effort on core operational priorities.
The reduction in duplication of reporting will promote the efficient use of departmental resources without compromising the level of information accessible to the public. Parliamentarians and other stakeholders who used the annual reports will experience no loss of information, as they will continue to have access to the same information, and more, provided in the CER and CNSC’s Departmental Results Reports.
Consultation
Given that the Order does not affect information available to parliamentarians and the public, no external consultations were conducted.
Contact
Veronica Ramrattan
Assistant Deputy Minister
Strategic Policy and Partnerships Sector
Natural Resources Canada