Mr. Speaker, in response to (a), Health Canada’s role in relation to human health concerns of proposed major resource and infrastructure projects, including the rail industry, is fulfilled through the impact assessment process. In accordance with the Impact Assessment Act, Health Canada provides technical expertise, for example, regarding air quality, noise, drinking water quality, social determinants of health, to support the assessment of impacts on human health from projects, on the request of the decision-making authorities or impact assessment reviewing body or bodies, for example, the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, review panels, and/or provinces and territories.
The act does not provide the Minister of Health the authority to designate projects or make a health assessment a requirement for federally funded projects. Furthermore, Health Canada does not have a regulatory function or a role in the approval or funding of projects. The decision-making authorities or impact assessment reviewing body or bodies determine how the expertise provided by Health Canada will be used in the impact assessment process.
(a) In response to (b), on November 4, 2021, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change determined that the Pitt Meadows Road and tail improvement and the logisticspark Vancouver projects do not warrant designation under the Impact Assessment Act. The details of these decisions can be found at: (1) https://iaac-aeic.gc.ca/050/evaluations/document/141737?culture=en-CA; (2) https://iaac-aeic.gc.ca/050/evaluations/document/141661?culture=en-CA.
In the absence of a designation under the Impact Assessment Act, Health Canada remains available to consider specific concerns within the department’s areas of expertise, as described above, if requested by the responsible jurisdiction, for example, a province or territory.
Setting standards or guidelines for environmental noise or vibration levels, and regulating noise and vibration levels fall outside of Health Canada’s purview. Noise may be managed by different levels of government. It may be regulated directly through federal, provincial and territorial legislation and guidelines, or through municipal bylaws, which may apply broadly or only to specific situations or sectors.
Health Canada’s 2017 publication “Guidance for Evaluating Human Health Impacts in Environmental Assessment: Noise” “provides general information on acceptable noise levels for resource and infrastructure projects including all project phases. This guidance describes Health Canada's preferred approach for assessing noise-related health effects.
In response to (c), Health Canada does not have information regarding air pollutant emissions monitoring for Pitt Meadows since Health Canada does not conduct air pollutant emissions monitoring. Air pollutant emissions monitoring is under the purview of Environment and Climate Change Canada.
In response to (d), Health Canada does not have information regarding the range of emission levels recorded since Health Canada does not conduct air pollutant emissions monitoring. Air pollutant emissions monitoring is under the purview of Environment and Climate Change Canada.