The Canadian Environmental Network (CEN) has called on the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada to require assessment of all major development projects that fall within federal authority, in an extensive report released last October.
The federal government should be legally required to assess the impacts of commercial and tourism developments in National Parks and National Wildlife Areas, mines, oil sands projects, pipelines and other major resource development projects as part of its responsibilities under the Impact Assessment Act. Unfortunately, successive federal governments side-stepped this approach and have approved a growing list of projects.
The latest retreat from project assessments is set out in the July 2024 Discussion Paper on the Project List Review from the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada that would further restrict the categories of projects for which impact assessments are legally required. This submission from CEN challenges the Discussion Paper by recommending all major developments under federal author be assessed, plus twenty other complimentary recommendations.
Ecovision was the principal consultant in preparing this submission. You can read the full document here.