This is an American doctrine, that there must be an "actual case or controversy" - Canadian courts can and do issue advisory opinions to interpret regulation.

Which are still usually advisory and not legally binding advice.

I would hope they go a long way towards reducing your responsibility if you follow one and then run into a legal problem because of it.

Pre-enforcement lawsuits do exist to answer questions for parties prior to taking actions that would result in liability. One was just recently decided in favor of the ACLU.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200402/13055544225/dc-co...

Not a court, but government agencies can and do issue "guidance" documents after receiving feedback. For example, the EPA guidance on Class VI (CO2) injection wells [1] and IRS guidance on 45Q CO2 capture and storage credits [2]

[1] https://www.epa.gov/uic/class-vi-guidance-documents

[2] https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-provides-answers-and-a-safe....

is that what suing for "declaratory relief" is, or is that only for civil law?