Thanks for giving us a few minutes to think it through and talk it over.
I am going to start by kind of contextualizing it before speaking to the specific amendment. Adaptive management has been part of the environmental assessment for a very long time. In our experience, having a uniform definition as to how to manage that has been helpful. We do that currently through policy.
Under the existing act, CEAA, 2012, adaptive management is a concept we use to ensure that mitigation measures that are proposed are achieving the objectives that have been set. It allows the department or the agency to engage with the proponent and identify what changes might happen to those mitigation measures over time when we see the results from those.
That's something we're doing through policy. We have a policy definition for that, and it helps to reduce uncertainty. It's somewhat different from the definition proposed here. I'd say that, in concept, it is similar. In terms of the amendment as drafted, there are certainly some unknowns in it. “Adaptive management” in the motion notes that it's a structured, iterative process. I think there is some uncertainty around what that means.
Looking at LIB-43, it uses the notion of “adaptive management plan” versus process, so there is a difference there.
I think that Justice might be able to speak to the placement of a definition, but I would flag that the Liberal amendment notes “adaptive management” in one section, in proposed subsection 64(4), which is under our “follow-up program”. That is where we would be using that process and that tool. Our plan would be to use policy to support a definition around “adaptive management” so that we can achieve the objectives that I highlighted.