CARS GR staff conducted a review/analysis of the Impact Assessment Act as to how it may affect CARS membership
The purpose of the Act includes fostering sustainability, providing meaningful public participation, respecting constitutionally protected Indigenous rights, and ensuring evidence-based decisions. While these are laudable goals, it is unclear if – or to what extent – they will be achieved under the IAA. The Act politicizes the approach and conflicts with the Expert Panel’s recommendation that assessment decisions should be made by an independent quasi-judicial authority (not politicians behind closed doors) on the basis of clear criteria in order to enhance transparency and accountability.
The Bill risks simply applying a fresh coat of paint to the same old EA model. It exempts the vast majority of projects and activities from review, provides no certainty that Indigenous jurisdiction and decision-making rights will be upheld, and gives the government broad discretion to trade environmental health for short-term economic and political gains. In a nutshell, the new IAA falls far short of what is needed to restore public trust and protect the lands, waters and air that Canadians cherish. History has shown political expediency reigns, when considering environmental, community and economic (investor confidence) considerations, or how few people actually benefit from them. Whereas, in a properly implemented process, timelines could not be fluid or be randomly altered, creating investor uncertainty and ultimately raising the risk factor of the project coming to fruition as initially planned.
The new IAA fails to provide a predictable timetable for its process despite, references to specific timeliness in the document, which would positively influence investor confidence. In summary and rather simplistic language, the Albertans call Bill 69 as the "No more pipelines" law. The bottom line is that the new IAA creates much uncertainty about the process, as it is riddled with insufficient details in critical areas, and contains numerous discretionary provisions subject to political influence. Uncertainty is hardly good news for investors, long term planning by companies and consequently to the Canadian economy - which has shown serious lack of investment from foreign sources in the recent past. Aside from being considered as an "anti-pipeline", the process required by the Impact Assessment negatively impacts segments in Canadian economy that rely on energy resources (oil), and the service industry supporting such an industry.