Thank you for the question.
I think it's fairly clear that the timelines now proposed in this act are shorter than what we currently have under CEAA 2012. The government's rationale for shortening the time frames is that they expect that the early planning phase will result in a scoping of the issues, a narrowing of the dispute, the proper and early engagement of affected communities and indigenous governing bodies, and so on.
That's kind of wishful thinking, based on how the act is drafted right now. I don't think the concerns and the problems we've had with timing will magically disappear with this early planning phase. I think it's because there's very little content prescribed in the act in terms of how the planning process is actually going to work. As drafted, the act only sets out a screening process for the agency to decide whether or not there's even going to be an environmental assessment of a designated project.
I would say to you, sir, that there's lots of room for improvement in terms of making this process work in the way the government says it should work.