Natural Resources committee  I'll turn to my colleague Cheryl McNeil.

Natural Resources committee  As you're aware, the federal government has to introduce and pass these amendments, and the provincial governments must do the same to their versions of the accord acts. The two must be brought into force at the same time to work together. The proposal to allow for a separate c

Natural Resources committee  I would say no, because they can still introduce and pass the same amendments that you see in the rest of Bill C-49. They can take the same approach to introduce, if they wish, the same amendments related to impact assessment and provide for a separate coming into force of those

Natural Resources committee  It would be up to the provinces to determine what they would introduce in their legislatures and the timing of that introduction, and that could include a delayed coming into force for those clauses related to the Impact Assessment Act.

Natural Resources committee  What I can tell you is that we have worked together with our two provincial partners, both Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia, to clarify in the two pieces of legislation what the role of the two regulators would be in the context of a federal-only impact assessment. It'

Natural Resources committee  I'm not in a position to answer the question you're asking specifically, but I can say that in discussions with our provincial colleagues, they were supportive of maintaining these provisions in the act as they are currently written, and they were supportive of the motions to all

Natural Resources committee  Perhaps my Department of Justice colleague will have some additional insight to provide, but I would just like to say that it's important to remember what these amendments actually do. What they do is codify in the accord acts what the regulator will do during an impact assessmen

Natural Resources committee  As you are aware, a group of motions have been brought forward that would provide for a separate coming into force of certain clauses in Bill C-49 to allow for consistency across the statutes, as the government intends to bring forward changes to the Impact Assessment Act at the

Natural Resources committee  With respect to the first part of your question on section 65 of the Impact Assessment Act, unfortunately I'm not an expert in the decision rendered by the Supreme Court. I can't speak to the details of that opinion or decision, but what I can say is that all of the clauses we ha

Natural Resources committee  Before we answer, I would just like to get a clarification for the officials. The question you're asking pertains to a section that is addressed later and that is not part of this particular amendment. I'm not sure if we should defer answering that question to the discussion on