Madam Chair, this makes this provision mandatory rather than giving her discretionary power. Where the minister believes that additional information is required to determine whether there are adverse effects that impact the public interest, it seems rather bizarre that she is not required to request that information.
That was requested by the expert panel. Without this change, it highlights the frailties of allowing substitution. If a province fails to fully assess the impacts under federal jurisdiction, it will then essentially need a second federal-led review. It seems to make sense.
It's rational that the minister must request the additional information, otherwise those matters would not have been reviewed. She may have made a mistake when she agreed to the substitution and had not had information brought to her attention that there were other adverse effects that affected federal jurisdiction. Once she becomes aware of that, she should be required to demand that information. Frankly, she should be required to then call a federal review, but that's not what this section says.