Background
The Canadian government recently enacted the highly anticipated
amendments to the Impact Assessment Act (IAA). These
amendments, which came into force on June 20, 2024, address the
constitutional overreach in the IAA, as identified by the Supreme
Court of Canada (SCC) in its opinion of October 13, 2023, in
Reference re Impact Assessment Act.
In a non-binding advisory opinion, the SCC found that the IAA
was unconstitutional, in part, because it allowed the federal
government to make decisions on designated projects that are not
sufficiently connected to "effects within federal
jurisdiction" (for further details see our bulletin). Having accepted the SCC's
guidance, the federal government vowed to make "surgical
amendments" to ensure the constitutionality of the IAA. True
to promise, the changes are very focused, leaving most of the IAA
regime intact. However, questions remain as to whether the
amendments will be enough to avoid future
