Reform of federal environmental assessment law
Bill C–38, the budget implementation legislation known
as the Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, received
royal assent on June 29, 2012. Legislative changes which will have
significant consequences for the federal environmental assessment
(EA) regime and the federal framework of environmental regulation
have thus occurred. These changes are essentially designed to
restrict the scope of federal intervention, to reduce the number of
decision makers and to avoid regulatory duplication. This new
federal legislation is an important shift from the framework that
existed up to this time.1
On July 6, 2012, The Canadian Environmental Assessment
Act (CEAA)2 was repealed and replaced by the
Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 (CEAA, 2012).
Three regulations associated with its implementation have also come
into force and were published in the Canada Gazette, Part II, on
July 18, 2012. These are the regulations
