The proposed amendments provide for—and this would be at the proposed subsection 35(4)—ministerial exemptions to certain classes of works, undertakings, or activities, or to specified waters. Pursuant to the enactment of Bill C-38, what would be provided for would be a regime of exemptions that wouldn't be subject to the Statutory Instruments Act; it would go directly to Canada Gazette II.
There would be no requirement for notice, no requirement for public consultation pursuant to such ministerial exemptions—for example, for certain activities such as pipeline crossings—if the model that has been used in the Navigable Waters Protection Act is followed. They have provided for the exact same type of exemptions under that act in the last two years, so there is precedent established for exemptions. In this case, under the NWPA, by ministerial order they've exempted certain classes of works and undertakings, and in the case of the Navigable Waters Protection Act, they have gone and exempted pipeline crossings.
What I'm suggesting is that there is no reason to believe that this government would not choose, pursuant to the enactment of Bill C-38, that an activity such as a pipeline crossing would not also be subject to the written exemptions to the protections of section 35.