C-375 – An Act to amend the Impact Assessment Act (federal-provincial agreements) – allows the federal and provincial governments to exempt certain projects from needing a federal environmental impact assessment.
Not much to say here, the Minister of the Environment can come to a written agreement that the Impact Assessment Act won’t apply to a project if there’s a provincial system in place for determining the environmental impact of the project (including any impact in federal jurisdictions) and identifying measures to limit these impacts. The agreement will need to be published in the Canada Gazette before it can come into force. There will then be a 60 day period where anyone can file an objection to the agreement. When the 60 days have passed the Minister will need to publish another report in the Gazette outlining how they addresses the objections, at which point the agreement will take effect.
These agreements last for five years before they need to be renewed, otherwise they’ll expire. Either the Minister or the provincial government can also back out of the agreement with three months’ notice.
Progress of C-375
C-375 is currently waiting for its Second Reading vote. Contact your MP and let them know what you think of it!