Providing Authority to Waive or Alter the 30-day Waiting Period for Class Environmental Assessment Projects

Proposed Amendment to the Environmental Assessment Act

The ministry is proposing to amend the Environmental Assessment Act to provide the Minister with the authority, on a project-specific basis, to issue an order waiving or altering the 30-day waiting period following completion of a Class Environmental Assessment process.

Proposed amendments to the Environmental Assessment Act were introduced on February 27, 2023, which if passed will provide the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks with authority, on a project-specific basis, to issue an order to:

• waive or alter the 30-day waiting period following the end of the comment period specified in the Notice of Completion for a Class EA project
• waive or alter the 30-day waiting period following the end of the comment period specified in the Notice of Addendum for project changes

This proposed authority could be exercised following the end of the comment period specified in the Notice of Completion or Notice of Addendum, and subject to other limitations as may be prescribed by the regulations, should any such regulations be made in the future. The proposed amendment would not change any Class EA requirements or the provisions of Section 16 of the Environmental Assessment Act.

Providing the Minister with this proposed authority to waive or alter the 30-day period would maintain environmental oversight, while reducing delays to get shovels in the ground on projects that matter most to Ontario communities.

Context for the proposed amendment to the Environmental Assessment Act

Subsection 15.1.1 (5) of the Environmental Assessment Act prohibits a person from proceeding with a project or change to a project that is subject to a Class EA for at least 30 days following the end of the comment period specified in the Notice of Completion or, in the case of a change to a project, at least 30 days following the end of the comment period specified in a Notice of Addendum.

The purpose of this prohibition is to provide the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks with an opportunity to consider issuing a section 16 order on their own initiative. In a section 16 order, the Minister may impose conditions in addition to the conditions of the relevant Class EA, or ‘bump up’ a project by requiring the preparation of an Individual EA.

Under subsection 16 (6) of the Environmental Assessment Act, a person may request that the Minister issue a section 16 order if the order may prevent, mitigate or remedy adverse impacts to constitutionally protected Aboriginal and treaty rights. This proposal would not change or modify the provisions of section 16, nor would it apply to the prohibition in subsection 15.1.1 (9) of the Environmental Assessment Act on proceeding with a Class EA project while a decision from the minister is pending on a section 16 order request.

More information

Projects with routine and predictable effects typically undergo a streamlined environmental assessment under the Environmental Assessment Act, known as a Class EA.

Class Environmental Assessments

A Class EA is a type of streamlined process that sets out:

• requirements for consultation
• how impacts are assessed
• how to mitigate impacts

Projects to which a Class EA apply require no further approval by the Minister under the Environmental Assessment Act as long as they are:

• planned according to the requirements of the Class EA
• not subject to a section 16 order

At the end of the Class EA process, proponents make their project documentation available for public review for a minimum of a 30-day comment period. There is then a 30-day period following the comment period when the minister can consider issuing a section 16 order on their own initiative. The project cannot proceed until the end of this period, whether or not the minister intends to issue a section 16 order.

The purpose of this proposal is to provide the Minister with authority to waive or alter the 30-day waiting period following the comment period.