On September 5, 2019, Canada's Minister of Environment and
Climate Change and British Columbia's Minister of Environment
and Climate Change Strategy announced they have signed an Impact
Assessment Cooperation Agreement (the "Cooperation
Agreement"). The Cooperation Agreement provides a framework
for cooperation between Canada and British Columbia on
environmental assessments under the new federal Impact
Assessment Act ("IAA") and British Columbia's
new Environmental Assessment Act ("BCEAA") and
is intended to implement the principle of 'one project, one
assessment'.
The Cooperation Agreement updates existing agreements to provide
for cooperation under the new federal and provincial legislation.
The IAA came into force on August 28, 2019. For more
information, see our bulletin on The New Federal Impact Assessment Act. The
Cooperation Agreement will not, however, take effect until the
BCEAA also comes into force, which is expected to be late 2019.
Until the BCEAA
