Biodiversity Boreal Conservation planning Natural resource development

WCS Canada Comments: Draft Co-operation Agreement between Ontario and Canada on Environmental and Impact Assessment

Ray, J., O'Connor, C. & Goodday, V.

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Key points

• Greater cooperation between the federal and provincial governments on Impact Assessment (IA) and development planning is both necessary and overdue. Cooperation, however, should aim to reduce unnecessary duplication and leverage resources and capacities to result in improved outcomes, all towards meeting the purposes of the Impact Assessment Act in a manner that does not diminish the rigour or quality of federal IA.
• The Ontario-Canada draft agreement is deeply concerning in that it provides for de facto reliance on Ontario processes for "primarily provincially regulated projects". This approach focuses on substitution of federal IA to Ontario processes, as the end goal, instead of a focus on achieving an effective IA/EA process that results in positive outcomes and fulfillment of the purposes of each party's IA/EA legislation.
• Ontario’s processes are deficient and cannot be relied on to address federal effects, particularly in light of regulatory weakening and deregulation by the Government of Ontario across multiple, interrelated areas of policy.
• There is no discussion of how a process will be evaluated for substitution nor are there guardrails or accountability mechanisms to ensure adequacy of any substituted process. The objectives of cooperation are neither clearly articulated nor measurable.
• We close with recommendations to address these concerns and strengthen the approach to Ontario-Canada cooperation.

Abstract

In this submission, WCS Canada provides input on the draft co-operation agreement between Ontario and Canada related to environmental assessment and impact assessment. The draft agreement is one of many proposed under the federal government's "one project, one review" approach, which aims to eliminate duplication and streamline assessment processes.

Recommended citation

Ray, J., O'Connor, C. & Goodday, V. (2025). WCS Canada Comments: Draft Co-operation Agreement between Ontario and Canada on Environmental and Impact Assessment. Wildlife Conservation Society Canada [WCS Canada]. https://wcscanada.org/resources/wcs-canada-comments-draft-co-operation-agreement-between-ontario-and-canada-on-environmental-and-impact-assessment/