I'd like to focus on the concept of “shall“ versus “may“ in the context of legislation. As for a criterion and a factor, there is a difference between the two. When certain criteria must be respected, theoretically this leads to a positive, or negative, decision. That's not the case here. What we have in the bill is a list of factors that the minister must consider in the decision-making process.
On October 20th, 2010. See this statement in context.