That's right. There are limits to the minister's discretion for designating a project that is not on our project list.
Subsection 9(7) contains two subcomponents that limit her power in the following cases: when another federal department has granted a permit or authorization enabling the project in question to proceed, and when a federal agency has granted funds and those funds have been disbursed. The latter applied in the case of the Montreal airport.
When my team receives an application for designation, we first check to see if the project is on the project list. If so, it is already designated, so there is no need for the minister to exercise her discretion. Otherwise, before triggering the formal process of applying for designation, we check whether any of the restrictions set out in subsection 9(7) apply to the project in question, which was the case for the Montreal airport project.
If memory serves, we received over 75 applications for designation, and in at least 15 cases, a restriction applied and the minister could not exercise her discretion.