| 1. Administration |
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| 2. Public participation |
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| 3. Information gathering, objectives, guidelines and codes of practice |
- Investments made in strategic research areas, including:
- collection and analysis of compliance samples
- test protocols for new substances
- research and development for enhanced monitoring of air quality and wastewater effluent
- protocols, methods and standards for new technologies
- identification of hazards
- development, assessment and application of novel technologies for hazard assessment and risk assessment
- existing water quality information is consolidated
- Information continues to be made available from:
- Great Lakes Action Plan
- Environmental Effects Monitoring (EEM)
- National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI)
- National Air Pollution Surveillance Network (NAPS)
- Canadian Air and Precipitation Monitoring Network (CAPMoN)
- A monitoring and reporting focal point will be established
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- Develop better science/policy linkages through effective priority setting and emerging issue identification
- Improve coordination of activities across research centres
- Establish a monitoring and reporting focal point to:
- develop an approach to supply Canadians with relevant environmental information
- consolidate results in a manner that supports CEPA 1999 policy delivery and decision-making
- maintain good ambient air quality information
- expand NPRI to include up to 10 new substances per year - in a format that is easily interpreted by Canadians
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| 4. Pollution prevention |
- Use of a wide range of risk management measures and tools, including the number of pollution prevention plans implemented and their success managing toxic substances
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| 5. Controlling toxic substances |
- Expect to "categorize in" 3450 substances, resulting in 138 individual substances being assessed per year
- Expect that 1% of screening-level risk assessment substances will require follow-up Priority Substances List (PSL) assessment (six per year)
- Volume of new substances notifications is growing quickly; expect about 1150 per year by 2011
- Must assess data in notifications within 45 days, otherwise industry is free to proceed regardless of program suspicions/concerns
- Innovative assessment methodologies and tools developed
- Expect 10 substances per year to be declared toxic
- More than one instrument will need to be developed at least 75% of the time
- A majority of CEPA 1999 instruments will address more than one substance (multipollutant approach)
- One regulation per substance on Virtual Elimination List
- 50% of toxic substances will be covered by a regulation
- 25% of toxic substances will be covered by a code of practice
- For every 20 substances declared toxic, Environment Canada will develop:
- 10 pollution prevention plans
- 1 regulation for virtual elimination
- 7 additional regulations
- 3 codes of practice
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- Develop an effective priority-setting mechanism that facilitates resource allocation by highest priority
- Leverage the work of, and seek harmonization with, other jurisdictions
- Place the onus on industry to provide information/data for the assessment process
- Make risk assessment decisions more quickly, with less stakeholder engagement and (at times) with fewer lines of evidence and thus greater uncertainty than with past PSL assessments
- Conduct PSL assessments on a highly selective basis, and carry these out in a streamlined and cost-effective manner
- Streamline new substances notification process on a continual basis
- Reduce New Substance Notification effort by 15% per notification by 2006
- Implement changes stemming from chemical/polymer multistakeholder consultation process to:
- increase transparency of New Substance Notification process
- make New Substance Notification regulations more responsive in the global context
- expand New Substance Notification more quickly to manage expected number of annual notifications
- develop new regulations to enable environmental risk assessments of new food and drug substances before entering the market
- establish existing substance priorities in conjunction with risk assessment programseek efficiencies by borrowing and adopting tools used in other jurisdictions and by leveraging generic instruments to reduce development and implementation costs
- increase the application of voluntary initiatives to reduce the use of suspected toxics by industry, through the development and implementation of environmental performance agreements
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| 6. Animate products of biotechnology |
- Volume of new substances notifications is growing quickly; expect about 100 biotech notifications per year by 2011
- Must assess data in notifications within 45 days, otherwise industry is free to proceed regardless of program suspicions/concerns
- Innovative assessment methodologies and tools developed
- Listing of other acts proceeds
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- Increase transparency of New Substance Notification process
- Make New Substance Notification regulations more responsive in the global context
- Expand New Substance Notification more quickly to manage expected number of annual notifications
- Develop new regulations to enable environmental risk assessments of new food and drug substances before entering the market
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| 7. Controlling pollution and managing wastes |
- Core national and regional capacities for disposal at sea permits exist in Environment Canada and other departments
- Maintain a core capacity to implement and monitor the results of Canada's National Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities and the Regional Programme of Action for the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment from Land-based Activities
- Develop, implement and maintain nine regulations concerning hazardous waste and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
- Mechanisms to receive notifications and issue permits established and maintained
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- Increase capacity to respond to anticipated request for ocean disposal permits from offshore oil and gas sector
- Increase transparency of ocean disposal permitting system
- Build capacities and ensure that Environment Canada objectives and targets for pollution prevention and management of marine sources of pollution are considered by other departments
- Enhance coordination and consistency of marine environmental protection activities for land-based sources of marine pollution with other government departments and provinces
- Improve linkages and coordination with other ocean bodies, university groups and regional groups
- Leverage existing monitoring data and shellfish water quality data to support program goals and objectives
- Develop a performance measurement framework for the hazardous waste program
- Develop and harmonize standards for management of hazardous waste nationally, regionally and globally
- Explore opportunities to implement cost recovery within hazardous waste program
- Create an e-tracking system for hazardous waste in partnership with United States Environmental Protection Agency
- Increase the number of memoranda of understanding with provinces regarding the control of interprovincial movement of hazardous waste
- Promote national harmonization of criteria for environmentally sound management of hazardous waste
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| 8. Environmental matters related to emergencies |
- Maintain a core capacity across regions to prepare for and respond to emergencies
- Ensure that industry and other first responders reduce the probability of accidental releases and the impacts associated with the release of high-risk substances
- Number of environmental emergency planning decisions taken on 10 CEPA 1999 toxics
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- Remove backlog of assessing risk of emergencies from substances declared toxic
- Develop and implement a national strategic framework for implementation of the environmental emergencies program
- Review and maintain up-to-date agreements with partners
- Enhance capacity to seek compensation from polluters and restoration costs
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| 9. Government operations and federal and Aboriginal land |
- Work to incorporate by reference provincial environmental laws into contract arrangements and/or appropriate federal legislation
- A focal point to manage and coordinate Part 9 issues and initiatives will be established
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- A focal point will be established to undertake:
- scientific assessment of risk from the federal house facilities and Aboriginal lands
- technical investigation of the status of federal house facilities and Aboriginal land
- consultation in the federal house and with Aboriginal groups on the setting of objectives, guidelines and codes of practice
- standards and guideline development
- risk management strategies and legislative and non-legislative instruments to address risks
- compliance promotion and enforcement of relevant regulations and standards
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| 10. Enforcement |
- For every 20 substances declared toxic, Environment Canada will develop 21 CEPA 1999 control instruments
- Compliance promotion will be delivered on all instruments
- Support for 23 enforcement officers at a cost of $1.5 million will be available by 2007-08
- New CEPA 1999 control instruments will involve complex multipollutant and/or sectoral approaches
- For every 20 substances declared toxic, 8 new regulations will be developed
- Increased inspections will result in increased (and more costly) enforcement
- Officers will be trained on new regulations; increase in environmental protection compliance orders and requests for review
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- Department will take a more streamlined, innovative approach to making industry aware of incoming control instruments
- Compliance promotion materials will be coordinated to avoid duplication and to effect efficient distribution across regions
- A national focal point for compliance promotion will be established
- A targeted approach to compliance promotion will be adopted by leveraging synergies between tools aimed at the same sector (as opposed to individual substances)
- More effective integration training of compliance promotion and enforcement officers
- Electronic enforcement tools (integrated database information system) developed
- Adopt a risk-based approach to enforcement
- Develop a strong intelligence program that targets potential violators before infractions occur
- Develop a performance measurement framework for the enforcement program
- Integrate enforcement with pollution prevention and other environmental stewardship initiatives
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| 11. Miscellaneous matters |
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