Environmental - October 2015

JURISDICTION

In Canada, the federal government has a much smaller role in environmental regulation than does the U.S. federal government. The authority to create laws dealing with the environment is shared between the provincial and federal government. Each province and territory in Canada has its own environmental protection legislation, whose statutes are the primary regulatory tools. In Ontario, the primary environmental statute is the Environmental Protection Act ("OEPA"), first enacted in 1971. Other environmental statutes in Ontario include the Ontario Water Resources Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, 2002 (and the related Clean Water Act, 2006) and the Environmental Assessment Act. Similar types of legislation are found in most provinces.