Environment committee  In terms of the government's approach to responsible resource development, it obviously sees an integrated system. The environmental assessment process comes first, and often there is federal permitting that comes after it. Clause 428 refers to a follow-up program. That follow-u

Environment committee  We had, as I say, some conversations with first nations in the summer. There was a general comment that the process in the spring had been inadequate from their point of view, because they had not been consulted on the new act before it had been tabled. More broadly in terms of

Environment committee  It in no way weakens the standards we use for environmental assessment under these federal authorities. We refer to them as “federal stewardship”.

Environment committee  There are some transition provisions that indicate the possibility of exempting a project from the act. We don't think that our new change, which addresses this issue in order to create more fairness, will have a significant impact in terms of the number of projects being subject

Environment committee  The reaction has been very muted. We were doing a tour with our provincial colleagues, and they understood fully that these were technical changes. We had some consultations in the summer that were broader—on the project list—but at that time, these elements were still under th

Environment committee  No. These are technical amendments. None of them change the policy intent of the original act.

Environment committee  As you know, there is an obligation in the act that federal authorities examine projects that are non-designated and happen to be on federal lands.They need to determine that there are no significant adverse environmental effects of their actions. Now, what we felt we needed to

Environment committee  Thank you very much. My name is Helen Cutts. I'm the vice-president of policy development at the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. It's my pleasure to be with you this afternoon. My opening remarks will not take 10 minutes. That will give us more time for questions. Div

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  I want to emphasize that these new tools of federal-provincial cooperation were put in at the request of the provinces. In 2009, the Canadian committee of ministers of the environment endorsed a report in which it recommended that jurisdictions add additional tools for cooperatio

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  At the request of a province we would look at the conditions laid out in the act. The act is designed to ensure that the substantive elements of environmental assessment are carried out by a province. For example, we need to ensure the core elements, such as looking at the signif

Environment committee  Any of our regional agencies that are providing support to a project in their region would be serving as a funder. As a proponent, we would be looking at Parks Canada, usually. Of course, the other two areas are when we have a trigger and when we have—

Natural Resources committee  I don't think I'm in any better position than anyone else to speculate on what cuts would mean. When we see what happens with our financial situation, we'll manage with whatever resources we have.

Natural Resources committee  Can you just rephrase it again, please?

Natural Resources committee  The study would include the suggestions of aboriginal people on how to reduce the environmental effects. The final decision wouldn't rest with the aboriginal people, but their advice and their considerations would be part of the report.

Natural Resources committee  Feasibility study is not really an environmental assessment term, so that's where I'm getting stuck. It's not a French-English thing; it's the language we use in environmental assessment. There are obviously different stages a project has to go through. At the early stages, the