Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada committed to review and restore confidence in Canada’s environmental and regulatory processes and initiated a comprehensive review of these processes. The review was focused on the federal environmental assessment processes; modernizing the National Energy Board; and restoring lost protections and introducing modern safeguards to the Fisheries Act and the Navigation Protection Act. Consultation with Canadians was at the core of this review. The first public consultation event on these four reviews, led by Natural Resources Canada, was an online questionnaire that was available from June 20 to August 31, 2016, for all Canadians to participate. With respect to the review of the changes to the Fisheries Act, a total of 467 participants provided their opinions as part of this online questionnaire.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans undertook a subsequent public consultation that focused on the 2012 amendments to the Fisheries Act. This included online consultation held from October 16 to November 25, 2016, and consideration of over 360 pieces of relevant correspondence, including over 156 written submissions, received by the department between April 2016 and February 2017. The online consultation received more than 15,000 visits, and 1,682 participants registered to contribute to the online consultation process.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans did not undertake any face-to-face consultation sessions related to the review of the changes to the Fisheries Act during the 2016-17 fiscal year. In-person consultations are planned for 2017-18 fiscal year.
With regard to (a), Natural Resources Canada received feedback through the online questionnaire about the Fisheries Act from individuals from every province between June 20 and August 31, 2016. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans heard views and opinions through the online consultation held from October 16 to November 25, 2016. The Department considered all relevant correspondence received by the Department between April 2016 and February 2017 from individuals from every province and territory across the country.
With regard to (b), participants from various sectors of Canadian society, including indigenous peoples, the general public, government--i.e., federal, provincial, and municipal governments--non-government organizations, academia, law associations, and industry associations participated in Natural Resources Canada’s online questionnaire and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ online consultation.
With regard to (c), The total expenditures of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans associated with the online public consultation related to the review of the Fisheries Act for the 2016–17 fiscal year was $203,378.44 plus applicable taxes. This included the following activities: preparation of the strategy and plan, $33,780.00; creation, development, and testing of the online engagement platform, $67,657.50; conducting the initial round of online consultation, $20,775.00; preparation of consultation summary and analysis, $17,285.00; preparation of the reports and searchable database file, $57,970.00; and translation of the report into French, $5,910.94.
With regard to (d), the total expenditures for Natural Resources Canada’s online questionnaire related to the review of the changes to the Fisheries Act for the 2016–2017 fiscal year was $8,280.00 for the preparation of consultation summary and analysis. Questionnaire design, programming, hosting, and weekly reporting were carried out using existing departmental resources. Translation of the report into French was an additional $3,113.05.