This accession consists of files created and/or maintained by the Ministry of State for Economic Development or MSED (later re-titled as the Ministry of State for Economic and Regional Development, or MSERD). These files consist of horizontal policy initiatives related to Consumer Policy, Competition Policy, Intellectual Property Policy, Human Resources Policy, Job Creation Policy, Research & Development Policy, Procurement Policy, Tax Policy, Small Business Policy, and Industrial Relations Policy.
Consumer Policy covers measures to promote standards of quality and product information to prevent misleading advertising, labelling and packaging of goods, and to regulate the marketing of hazardous products primarily through regulation and provision of consumer information, with particular files on urea formaldehyde foam insulation (UFFI), and cellulose insulation.
Competition Policy covers measures to counteract restrictive or unfair trade practices, including anti-competition mergers, in order to promote economic efficiency through the maintenance of competitive markets, with a particular file concerning amendments to the Combines Investigation Act.
Intellectual Property Policy deals with measures designed to protect and provide a return to intellectual property. This includes mainly four measures: the Patent Act, the Trademark Act, the Industrial Design Act, and the Copyright Act. General, Patents & Trademarks.
Human Resources Policy covers measures to assist in matching, developing and adjusting supplies of labour in response to the needs of the economy both in terms of occupational skills and the locations where they are required with particular files on labour mobility, labour force tracking, and the Adult Occupational Training act. Further, this involves Job Creation Policy, which covers measures providing federally paid employment in activities whose primary purpose is to provide jobs to Canadians who are temporarily out of work or for new labour force entrants who lack the job experience necessary to find employment, with particular files on Labour Market & Unemployment Insurance Task Force and Reports, Employment Opportunities in Product Development Program, Employment Tax Credit Act, Canada Works Program, Private Employment Incentives Bill, Employment Programs, Youth Employment Program for 1980, and the Lalonde Committee Reallocation/Job Creation Exercise.
Research & Development Policy covers measures to increase the level and effectiveness of the use of science and technology in Canadian Society, with particular files on Research & Development Profiles, and Atlantic Research & Development. This further involves scientific research and development, which deals with measures for the support of scientific research performed for the general public good in universities and government laboratories, with particular files on biotechnology, NSERC, Canadian university research, and Computer Aided Learning (CAL). In addition is Industrial Innovation Policy, which deals with measures to increase the technological capability of firms to increase their efficiency and competitiveness, with particular files on centres of excellence, NRC Industrial Research Assistance, leverage on industrial research and development, and the Advisory Committee on Industrial Research and Development.
Procurement Policy deals with measures related to the use of public expenditures on goods, services, and construction to promote various objectives, with particular files on the Advisory Committee on Procurement Policy, Xerox Canada Industrial Integration into Canada, Source Development Fund, Working Group on Cooperation in Procurement, and Petro Canada.
Tax Policy covers measures to raise revenues for the government in an equitable and efficient manner, and to alter the normal tax regime through incentives or penalties to serve a number of economic, social, cultural, and like objectives.
Small Business Policy deals with measures to promote the development of small business activity in Canada through financial incentives, direct assistance and a favorable policy environment, with particular files on the Small Business Loans Act and Small Business Financing. Further included is Financial Institutions Policy, involving measures providing for the regulation of federally chartered institutions, including banks, trust companies, loan companies, credit unions, mortgage loan companies, insurance companies and investment companies.
Industrial Relations Policy involves measures to establish the legal and institutional framework within which labour and management function, as well as measures promoting attitudes conducive to more harmonious labour-management relations, with particular files on Essential Services Disputes, Labour Information Bureau, Amendments to the Canada Labour Code, and the Federal minimum wage.
Support Programs Policy covers measures to improve the economic, social, and physical conditions for Canadian workers within the financial capacity of employers and of the Canadian Economy, with particular files on industrial adjustments policies, the Labour Adjustment Benefit Program, worker's metric tools, Enterprise Development Program, metric conversion of scales in retail food stores, Board of Industrial Leadership & Development (BILD), Consolidated Computer Inc. (CCI), Task Force on Program Design and Management, and Manpower Policies related to Industrial Adjustment.
