Library of Parliament Research Publication on Canada’s Changing Federal Environmental Assessment Process

The Library of Parliament recently published a research publication on Canada’s Changing Federal Environmental Assessment Process:

"Canadian environmental assessments have evolved over time. Following the influential 1977 Berger Report on the proposed Mackenzie Valley Pipeline in northern Canada, many assessments of large-scale projects have considered likely economic and social impacts as well as environmental effects. As the environment is an area of shared legislative jurisdiction, provinces have also developed environmental assessment regimes, sometimes applicable to the same projects that are subject to federal assessments."

"Following a global economic crisis in 2008, Canada’s government declared its top priority as being “to support jobs and growth and to sustain Canada’s economy.”  Perceiving inefficiencies in the environmental assessment process as a hindrance to economic development, the government included provisions in its budget implementation bill (Bill C-38) in the spring of 2012 to replace Canada’s federal environmental assessment process with a new environmental assessment process set out in the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 (CEAA, 2012). After much debate, Parliament passed the bill in June 2012."

"This paper summarizes the new federal environmental assessment process that came into force on 6 July 2012. It provides a limited comparison of the assessment process under the CEAA, 2012 with the assessment process under the former Act, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, and discusses how projects are being addressed during the transition"