Writing for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives on February 20, 2026, G78 Board member Bruce Cambell re-examines recent changes to Canada’s regulatory infrastructure and the news is not good. Since the publication of his edited book on this subject–Corporate Rules: The real world of business regulation in Canada: How government regulators are failing the public interest–he finds that corporate capture of the regulatory process has deepened. In this blog, he looks particularly at environmental regulation and railway transportation, two sectors he knows well. The public interest has been compromised, he writes, “in favour of corporate interest (profits and shareholder value) and those of government enablers. In many cases, corporations themselves are the ones defining priorities and helping to create regulations in their own interest.” He concludes that “The present reality is akin to the fox overseeing the henhouse with fewer safeguards in place to guard the fox.” Read Bruce Campbell’s full assessment below.
