Environment Committee on Sept. 25th, 2025

[Patricia Brady]

What the Building Canada Act does is not just related to impact assessment. As I mentioned, the Impact Assessment Act is just one part of the regulatory framework that applies to major projects. As I understand it, the objective of the act is to provide that upfront certainty to investors on the outcomes of the process and to streamline multiple processes, of which the Impact Assessment Act is only one and not necessarily always implicated in a project that might be listed under the Building Canada Act.

It would be to streamline those multiple requirements into one decision and one conditions document in a two-year process.

[Branden Leslie, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

You mentioned that in terms of the proponent, if there was an agreement with the province, it would seem to them as if there is only one process. Can you confirm that the province is still doing its own process and environmental assessment, as is the Impact Assessment Agency? There are still two processes going on. You may lend one information from the other, but at the end of the day, is this actually going to shorten any approval processes?

[Patricia Brady]

Under the new tools that were put into the act in 2024 amendments and that we are working to enable through the co-operation agreements we're working on now, it would allow for one process. There is already a tool in the act for that substitution—we use that with B.C.—where the federal minister can decide that another province's regime can be completely substituted for the federal one. With B.C., we do that.

Previously—

[Branden Leslie, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Right now, there are still going to be two processes happening. I just don't understand how adding a second bureaucracy is going to enhance the streamlined nature of this process.

[Patricia Brady]

Under the co-operation agreements, it will be one process, one review. That might look different depending on the project. There are a number of ways to enable one process, but the act now allows for the provincial process to completely lead and apply, and it also allows for a harmonized process, which is truly one process. Between the two of us, we're figuring out who does what.

From a proponent perspective, it's one process.

[Branden Leslie, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Okay. Thank you.

I'm curious. I looked through the inventory of projects. It seems that since the inception, in 2019, there have been only three projects approved. You said that there was an average of eight going through, applied for by proponents. In six years, we've had three projects approved.

Could you provide this committee with a series of stats on a year-by-year basis of how many project proponents have moved forward with projects, how many have been accepted, how many have been rejected and the average time of each, delineated by the type of project it is, when you get a chance?

[Patricia Brady]

For that kind of detailed information and volume of stats, we would need to come back in writing, but I can't say—

[Branden Leslie, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

That's great. Thank you.

I'd like to go on to the Canada Water Agency.

I noted that an article came out regarding some confusion, politically, about cuts, in which there was a reporter added to a group chat of environment minister staffers. At that time, the president of the Canada Water Agency was unable to provide a comment about his concerns, if any, regarding a cut to the Canada Water Agency, although the political implications were made clear via those text messages between political staffers.

I'm wondering, since it's been a month, has the Canada Water Agency formed a position on what the impact of cuts to the agency might mean for fresh water in Canada?

[Justyna Frobisher, Acting Director General, Corporate Services Directorate, Canada Water Agency]

Thank you for the question.

The Canada Water Agency was in scope for the comprehensive expenditure review initiative that was undertaken by the Government of Canada. As part of that process, there were discussions with the minister's office and internally within the Canada Water Agency executives. We did successfully submit savings proposals in response to this initiative. The content of those proposals is under cabinet confidence, and therefore I cannot speak to the content, but I can say that we were in scope for the process.

[Branden Leslie, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Thank you.

I'd like to jump back to the Impact Assessment Agency.

It looks as though your staffing has ballooned 33% in the past three years. Does this hiring spree have any evidence of increasing the pace of approvals and/or rejections?

[Patricia Brady]

I'm sorry. I don't have information on the correlation between timelines and staffing volumes at the Impact Assessment Agency. Our budget was renewed in 2022—

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

Thank you.

[Branden Leslie, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

It looks like it was up 47% in 2022.

[The Chair, Liberal, Angelo Iacono]

Your time is up. Thank you.

That concludes question period.

I would like to thank the witnesses from both agencies for being here this morning to answer our questions. I wish them a great day and a great weekend.

The meeting is suspended.

[Proceedings continue in camera]