CTA's Policy on Providing Guidance on Regulatory Requirements

This policy outlines the CTA's approach to helping regulated parties understand their regulatory obligations.

CTA Context

The CTA is an independent, quasi-judicial tribunal and regulator that has, with respect to all matters necessary for the exercise of its jurisdiction, all the powers of a superior court.  It oversees the very large and complex Canadian transportation system, which is essential to the economic and social well-being of Canadians.

The CTA is committed to fostering compliance with regulations by providing key information to assist stakeholders in understanding the regulatory requirements.  

The information outlined in this policy is applicable to all directorates of the CTA.

Building Awareness of Regulatory Requirements

The CTA is committed to providing clear and consistent communication and guidance regarding regulatory requirements. This begins with stakeholder and public consultation during the regulatory development process.

Once the regulations are finalized, the CTA ensures that stakeholders and the public are aware of and understand the regulations using communication approaches and tools such as the following: web content, news releases, updates at industry and public events, and social media.

Publications such as application guides, guidelines, codes of practice, interpretation notes, and other resource tools, which are written in plain language to the fullest extent possible, are available on the CTA's web site. The CTA is also committed to ensuring the accessibility of all its publications and services.

In order to support the implementation of the new regulations under the CTA's Regulatory Modernization Initiative, new guidance material will be published, accompanied by a comprehensive review and revision of all existing guidance material.  This work will ensure that the guidance material reflects the current environment, and to the greatest extent possible, uses plain language and is presented in a consistent and accessible format.

Responding to Enquiries

The CTA welcomes questions, comments and suggestions from stakeholders and the public.  CTA staff can be reached via e-mail, mail, telephone or fax and are committed to responding to enquiries from stakeholders and the public in plain language to the extent possible, and in a clear, consistent, and professional manner. CTA staff generally respond to enquiries in the manner chosen by the requester, unless a reply needs to include web links, in which case the response would be in writing.

CTA staff address questions in the official language of the inquirer’s choice in accordance with the requirements found in the Official Languages Act.

Responses from CTA staff to enquiries are not binding on the CTA. CTA staff do not provide legal advice about how specific regulations may apply to particular circumstances.

The CTA has established high service standards to ensure that it provides efficient and transparent service to regulated entities and the public. A description of communications services standards are available on the CTA's web site.

CTA staff review questions to identify any high-volume issues.  Responses to recurring enquiries are often included in tailored text for call centre staff to ensure quality, timeliness and consistency of service. Responses to commonly asked questions may also be included in direct communications material with clients and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) published on the CTA’s website.

Commitment to Professional Service

The CTA is committed to delivering clear, consistent and professional service to stakeholders and the public.

The CTA is committed to ensuring that staff responding to enquiries have the skills and technical knowledge to provide quality service and accurate information regarding regulatory requirements.  To support this, the CTA implements workplace communication training for employees.  In addition, call centre staff are provided with tailored text for responses to recurring enquiries.

Stakeholder Engagement

The CTA is committed to engaging stakeholders and the public, as appropriate, when developing, reviewing or refining:

  • regulations;
  • practices and materials for providing information to the Agency; and
  • guidance on regulatory compliance.

In order to understand the perspectives of a wide range of stakeholders and the public to inform the development of policies and regulations, the CTA uses a number of consultation channels.  These include the CTA's consultation page, public sessions across the country, direct stakeholder meetings, advisory committees, written feedback and surveys. All input provided is taken into account in the development of regulations and supporting materials. Upcoming consultation opportunities may be found on the CTA's consultations page and Consulting with Canadians website.

The CTA is committed to seeking feedback from stakeholders and the public with regard to client services.  To gauge its success as a client-centred organization, the CTA has developed and implemented an online client feedback tool to continuously monitor client satisfaction for all services. Since its launch in 2018, the tool has generated valuable feedback from transportation service providers and users.  This information has been used to support initiatives that improve the services offered by the CTA.

Date of Last Revision

This policy was last updated on March 31, 2019.

Consult the CTA’s acts and regulations web page for:

  • a list of acts and regulations administered by the CTA
  • further information on the CTA’s implementation of government-wide regulatory management initiatives

Consult the following for links to the Cabinet Directive on Regulation and supporting policies and guidance, and for information on government-wide regulatory initiatives implemented by departments and agencies across the Government of Canada:

To learn about upcoming or ongoing consultations on proposed federal regulations, visit:

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