Feds, Ontario sign draft agreement on proposed unified approach to speed up environmental assessments

Big changes are coming in the way the feds and the province will be conducting environmental assessments on major projects.

True to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s and Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s mantra on pursuing a ‘one project, one review’ approach when it comes to fast-tracking major projects through the regulatory process, the two orders of government have signed a draft co-operative agreement that sets out the ground rules. 

The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) said it wants the public — especially Indigenous people — to comment on this new direction and the contents of the draft agreement.

The document will guide how Ottawa and Queen’s Park plan to work together to eliminate the duplication and streamline the assessment process on an individual project level.

In a news release, IAAC maintains that environmental safeguards and Indigenous rights will be respected in this single assessment system. Governments also promise not to step on each other’s jurisdictional toes. 

In the draft document, federal agencies will recognize and defer projects within provincial jurisdiction to provincial environmental assessments and regulatory processes.

According to IAAC, the comments received will be made public and will inform the final co-operation agreement.

The commenting period began on Nov. 24 and ends on Dec. 15. 

This new approach is a marked departure from the more environmentally strident tone set by Ottawa in 2019, when Bill C-69 — also known as the Impact Assessment Act — replaced the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency with the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada. 

The controversial legislation was heavily criticized by industry and labelled by its opponents as the ‘No More Pipelines Act’ who argued it caused unnecessary delays and uncertainty for project proponents.

For provinces like Alberta and Ontario, policy analysts and the Supreme Court of Canada, the act represented unnecessary federal overreach into areas of responsibility that are under provincial jurisdiction, according to the Constitution.

Today, to assist in expediting major projects, considered of the ‘nation-building’ type, the Carney government has established the Major Projects Office to identify sure-to-succeed projects and accelerate their development under single set of conditions.

They promise to keep the approvals process timelines to under two years through a partnership with the provinces and territories, Indigenous people and private investors.