York Region Wastewater Act, 2021

Subsection 15 (1) of the EBR requires that if a minister considers that a proposal under consideration in his or her ministry for an Act could, if implemented, have a significant effect on the environment and the minister considers that the public should have an opportunity to comment on the proposal on the Registry before implementation, the minister shall do everything in his or her power to give notice of the proposal to the public at least thirty days before the proposal is implemented.

Clause 30 (1) (a) of the EBR provides that the requirements in subsection 15 (1) do not apply where, in the minister’s opinion, the environmentally significant aspects of the proposed Act have already been considered in a process of public participation, under this Act, under another Act or otherwise, that was substantially equivalent to the process required in relation to the proposal.

If a minister decides not to give notice of a proposal for an Act in reliance of this exception, the minister is required to give notice of the decision not to post in reliance on the exception to the public and to the Auditor General as soon as reasonably possible after the decision is made.

Bill 306, the York Region Wastewater Act, 2021, was introduced on June 3, 2021 and was posted to the Environmental Registry (‘the Registry’) for 30 days for public comment from June 3, 2021 to July 4, 2021 (York Region Wastewater Act). 13 comments were received on the Registry, with an additional five submissions received directly by the ministry.

Bill 306 died on the Order Paper when the Legislature was prorogued on September 3, 2021.

The government has now introduced Bill 5. Although minor revisions have been made to Bill 5 the Bill remains consistent with the description of the proposal for Bill 306 previously posted on the Registry and with the original policy objectives of Bill 306.

The posting for Bill 306 indicated that the bill would have put a hold on any decision under the Environmental Assessment Act in respect of the application for the Upper York Sewage Solutions Undertaking, put a hold on any actions to advance the application for the Upper York Sewage Solutions undertaking, allowed for repeal of these provisions, and prevent the commencement or continuation of any action in respect of enactment of the Bill.

Bill 5 includes these provisions and would also retroactively remove the deadline for making a decision on the application and contains minor additions to the no cause of action provisions. There will be no additional environmental impacts that would result from these revisions that were not outlined in the ERO posting for Bill 306.

As such, the Minster has concluded, that the environmentally significant aspects of Bill 5 have already been considered in a process of public of public participation under the EBR that is substantially equivalent to posting Bill 5 for public comment pursuant to section 15 of the EBR.

The Minister is giving notice of this decision in accordance with subsection 30 (2) of the EBR.