Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999
Annual Report to Parliament for April 2019 to March 2020: chapter 5

On this page

• 5. Administration and public participation
  • 5.1 Federal, provincial, territorial cooperation
  • 5.2 Federal-provincial/territorial agreements
  • 5.3 Public participation

5. Administration and public participation

Administration and public participation covers stakeholder engagement and inter-jurisdictional relationships.

5.1 Federal, provincial, territorial cooperation

National Advisory Committee

The National Advisory Committee (NAC) provides a forum for provincial, territorial and Aboriginal governments to advise the Ministers on certain actions being proposed under the Act, enable national cooperative action, and avoid duplication in regulatory activity among governments. The Committee was provided opportunities to advise and comment on initiatives under the Act.

To carry out its duties in 2019-2020, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA) NAC held a teleconference meeting in January 2020, and the NAC Secretariat corresponded regularly with committee members regarding various initiatives implemented under CEPA, including the publication of 27 draft screening assessments and 9 final screening assessment. The initiatives include those listed below.

Members were informed of risk management and other activities:

• Final regulations
  • Regulations Amending the Concentration of Phosphorus in Certain Cleaning Products Regulations
  • Regulations Repealing the Chlor-Alkali Mercury Release Regulations
  • Regulations amending the Contaminated Fuel Regulations
• Pollution prevention plan notices
  • pollution prevention plan notice with respect to reaction products of 2-propanone with diphenylamine (PREPOD) in industrial effluents
  • an Order Declaring that the Reduction Of Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Coal-Fired Electricity Regulations do not apply in Saskatchewan
  • 3 final orders which added the substances BENPAT, cobalt and it soluble compounds, and 5 methylenediphenyl diisocyantes to Schedule 1
  • the Notice with respect to the substances in the National Pollutant Release Inventory for 2020 and 2021

Members were provided with an opportunity to comment on:

• Draft Science Assessment of Plastic Pollution
• proposed Code of Practice for Methylenediphenyl Diisocyanates (MDIs)
• proposed renewal of the Environmental Performance Agreement Respecting the Use of Tin Stabilizers in the Vinyl Industry
• applying the Significant New Activity (SNAc) provisions to Mitotane in addition to 105 substances and rescinding the significant new activity provisions for 5 substances

Members were provided with an offer to consult on:

• Federal Environmental Quality Guidelines (FEQGS) for Certain Substances under Section 54 of CEPA - Iron, Lead, Quinoline and Strontium, as well as Copper
• proposed Regulations Amending the Storage Tank Systems For Petroleum Products and Allied Petroleum Products Regulations made under Section 209 of CEPA

Members were provided with an offer to advise on proposed regulatory initiatives:

• proposed Multi-Sector Air Pollutants Regulations Amendment Regulations (Part 1 - Biomass)
• proposed Formaldehyde Emissions from Composite Wood Products Regulations
• proposed Volatile Organic Compound Concentration Limits for Certain Products Regulations

5.2 Federal-provincial/territorial agreements

Part 1 of the Act also allows the Minister of the Environment to negotiate an agreement with a provincial or territorial government, or an Aboriginal people, with respect to the administration of the Act. It also allows for equivalency agreements, which allow the Governor in Council to suspend the application of federal regulations in a jurisdiction that has equivalent regulatory provisions. The intent of an equivalency agreement is to eliminate the duplication of environmental regulations. Table 21 indicates the administrative and equivalency agreements in place under sections 9 and 10 of CEPA.

^a New activity in 2019-2020.
* Purpose is to establish a streamlined notification system and reduce duplication of effort for persons required to notify federal and provincial/territorial governments of an environmental emergency or environmental occurrence, such as an oil or chemical release.

Memorandum of Understanding between Canada and Quebec

The Province of Quebec and the Government of Canada have been collaborating since 1994. The parties currently co-operate through a memorandum of understanding for data collection, whereby Quebec provides a single data-entry portal for regulatees for the following federal regulations:

• Pulp and Paper Mill Effluent Chlorinated Dioxins and Furans Regulations made pursuant to CEPA
• Pulp and Paper Mill Defoamer and Wood Chip Regulations made pursuant to CEPA
• Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations made pursuant to the Fisheries Act

5.3 Public participation

CEPA Registry

Part 2 of CEPA (Public Participation) provides for the establishment of an environmental registry, whistleblower protection, and the right of an individual to request an investigation and pursue court action.

The CEPA Registry was launched on Environment and Climate Change Canada’s (ECCC) website when the Act came into force on March 31, 2000. Continuous efforts are made to increase the Registry’s reliability and ease of use. The Registry encompasses thousands of CEPA-related documents and references. It has become a primary source of environmental information for the public and private sectors, both nationally and internationally, and has been used as a source of information in university and college curricula.

From April 2019 to March 2020, the CEPA Registry website had 307 466 visits.

Public consultation

CEPA includes many requirements to provide the public with access to information, to provide comments on proposed initiatives and to provide access to justice. These provisions include a mandatory consultation and public comment periods for proposed Orders, Regulations and other statutory instruments; and requirements to publish information. Other provisions allow for a member of the public to bring civil actions against alleged offenders, to request reviews of existing laws and policies, as well as providing protection for whistle-blowers.

In addition, engaging stakeholders and the public is central to several programs under CEPA. For example, at each stage in the Chemicals Management Plan (CMP) management cycle, stakeholders are engaged and the public has the opportunity to be involved and comment on proposed assessments of substances or groups of substances.

There were 48 opportunities posted on the Registry between April 1, 2019 and March 31, 2020 for stakeholders and the members of the public to provide comments on proposed initiatives under CEPA. These included:

• 27 draft screening assessments
• 3 final assessments
• 1 draft science assessment
• 2 substances proposed for addition to the List of Toxic Substances
• 1 environmental quality guideline
• 6 proposed regulations
• 1 proposed regulatory approach
• 3 notices regarding amendments to the Domestic Substances List
• 1 proposed code of practice for substances
• 1 proposed amendment to the Export Control List
• 1 draft administrative agreement
• 1 proposed order related to an equivalency agreement

Please see the CEPA Registry public consultations, available online.

Pollution Prevention resource finder

Part 4 of CEPA provides the authority for the establishment of a national pollution prevention information clearinghouse to facilitate the collection, exchange and distribution of information regarding pollution prevention.

The Pollution Prevention resource finder (P2 finder) is Canada’s largest publicly accessible database of links to practical resources that can help Canadians and Canadian organizations be more environmentally friendly. It received more than 16 500 views in 2019-2020. Users can search by keyword and/or filters to find resources of interest. In 2019-2020, 93 new links were added to the P2 finder. The P2 finder contains links to resources for:

• Employees or volunteers
• Homeowners or renters
• Travelers
• Youths or educators
• Businesses (including non-profit organizations)
• Community groups
• Governments
• Health care facilities

CMP-related committees and activities

The CMP Science Committee supports a strong science foundation to CMP by providing external national and international scientific expertise to Health Canada (HC) and ECCC on scientific issues. Members met in June 2019 to discuss new approaches for integrating chemical fate and spatial and temporal scale in exposure assessment. Another meeting took place in February 2020 to discuss considerations for identifying potential risks from exposure to chemicals in the workplace. Members engaged in constructive discussions as they continued developing the Committee’s scientific input for the Government of Canada. Meeting records and reports are made available online.

The CMP Stakeholder Advisory Council (CMP SAC) aims to obtain advice from stakeholders for implementing the CMP and to foster dialogue between stakeholders and government, and among different stakeholder groups. In May 2019, the government hosted a CMP SAC meeting to update on government initiatives related to chemicals management in Canada, with presentations and discussions on the following topics:

• National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI)
• Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development (CESD) 2018 toxics audit follow-up and performance measurement
• Nanomaterials: update and next steps
• Progress towards CMP modernization
• Vulnerable populations (VPs) – Development of a framework for addressing populations at increased risk from chemicals
• Canada’s Plastics Science Agenda (CaPSA) - Science to address plastic pollution
• Green chemistry - Industry lead
• Wastewater monitoring