Provincial, territorial and federal regulators generally have complex and extensive prohibitions to prevent harm to, or harassment of, endangered species or damage to their habitat, as well as to prevent harm to protected areas (e.g., wetlands and watercourses). Where such harm or damage may occur, federal, provincial or territorial permits will be necessary, and mitigation measures and habitat compensation may be required. Regulators in Canada are increasingly focused on preventing critical habitat destruction and fragmentation, and project proponents are required to spend more effort in the permitting process to address regulators' concerns with respect to biodiversity losses.
Ontario’s EPA, for example, prohibits unlawful discharges of contaminants into the environment and requires any parties that cause or permit such discharges to notify the regulators immediately of an unlawful discharge. Those who cause or permit unlawful discharges may face offence liability, environmental penalties and administrative orders. To avoid such liability, all operational discharges (to air, water or land) must be approved by the provincial Ministry of the Environment. Conditions and requirements (including financial assurances) may apply to such approvals, and any alterations to discharging equipment (including sewage and waterworks) must also be approved. To provide greater flexibility for business, Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta have generally simplified registration processes for low-risk activities and single- site, multi-media approvals for more complex facilities. Québec’s EQA also prohibits unlawful discharges of contaminants into the environment. As in Ontario, the range of regulated contaminants is very broad. The EQA imposes a duty to report accidental discharges to the minister responsible for the statute and to clean up discharges of contaminants without delay. A permitting regime under the EQA came into force in March 2018 and is still in the process of being implemented, resulting in frequent changes to the applicable rules regarding both triggers and administrative requirements. Under this permitting regime, projects are ranked according to four levels of risk, each level requiring a different type of management: (i) high-risk projects require the completion of an EIA process and governmental authorization as well as ministerial authorizations; (ii) moderate-risk projects require ministerial authorization; (iii) low-risk projects require the filing of a declaration of compliance by the proponent; and (iv) negligible-risk projects are exempted from the permitting regime. Such projects nonetheless remain subject to the prohibition against the discharge of contaminants and to the EQA’s operating requirements.
Regulators in Canada are increasingly focused on preventing critical habitat destruction and fragmentation. Project proponents are required to spend more effort in the permitting process to address regulators’ concerns with respect to biodiversity losses.
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Doing Business in Canada
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