The Order Designating Certain Excluded Classes of Projects is published in the Canada Gazette, Part II
OTTAWA, ON, March 12, 2025 /CNW/ - What is happening?
On March 12, 2025, the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change issued the Order Designating Certain Excluded Classes of Projects (the Order), which replaces the previous Designated Classes of Projects Order. The Order is published in the Canada Gazette, Part II.
Development on federal lands and outside Canada must undergo a review of potential environmental effects. However, the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change can exclude certain projects from such a review if, in the Minister's opinion, they will cause only insignificant adverse environmental effects. The Order modifies the previous list of types of projects on federal lands and outside Canada that are excluded from the requirements for an environmental effects determination. Designated projects listed for assessment on the Project List under the Impact Assessment Act cannot be excluded by this Order.
Also published today in the Canada Gazette, Part II, is the Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement (RIAS). The RIAS includes information about the changes being implemented relative to the previous Order and the reasons the Minister has made them.
What's Changing?
The changes will increase clarity and consistency and help improve process efficiency for low-risk projects. This initiative aligns with the Government of Canada's desire to be more efficient when it comes to project reviews.
Some of the changes include:
- Adding new types of projects excluded from requirements for an environmental effects determination (such as the installation of gates and flagpoles, and shoreline restoration work);
- Adding new types of low-risk projects located in National Wildlife Areas (like activities within an existing building); and,
- Adjusting existing types of projects (for example expanding the size threshold for buildings such as houses, recreation centres and schools, and allowing changes to existing utility infrastructure like water pipelines and telecommunication lines).
As with the previous Order, projects must meet conditions like size, volume, or length limits, and restrictions that protect sensitive environmental features like wetlands, lakes, migratory birds and species at risk, to be excluded by the Order. Also, the evaluation of a whole project cannot be split into component parts for the purposes of getting excluded from an environmental effects determination.
Additional Information
The development of the Order included a 75-day national consultation, where Indigenous Peoples, stakeholders and the public shared their feedback. Careful analysis and input from the feedback received helped shape the final Order. The comment period ran from July 27 to October 10, 2024.
For media inquiries, contact IAAC's media relations at [email protected] or 343-549-3870.
SOURCE Impact Assessment Agency of Canada
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