Environmental Law in Canada: an Introduction
National Developments
Challenges to federal jurisdiction could impact
net-zero emissions goals
In October 2023, Canada's highest court ruled that those
parts of the federal Impact Assessment Act affecting the assessment
of "designated projects" were outside federal
jurisdiction and unconstitutional. The court found that the
legislative scheme granted the decision maker "a practically
untrammeled power to regulate projects qua projects, regardless of
whether Parliament has jurisdiction to regulate a given physical
activity in its entirety".
The federal government has indicated it will propose new
legislation that is consistent with the ruling. In the meantime,
however, the ruling also casts doubt on the constitutionality of
other federal initiatives, including the draft Clean Electricity
Regulations, released in August 2023, which are intended to limit
carbon emissions from large-scale electricity generating
