After a marathon session in the lower chamber of Canada’s federal parliament, the Conservative government majority prevailed and its federal Budget Bill C-38 (Jobs, Growth and Long-Term Prosperity Act) became law at the end of June 2012. Bill C-38 brings with it considerable restructuring of Canadian environmental regulation. The federal government says that the objective of
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Ontario’s ambitious renewable energy program is under attack from all sides. In December 2011, the Auditor General criticized the province’s Feed-in Tariff (FIT) rates for renewable energy as being too costly (see the Manning Environmental Law blog post December 5, 2011) . In February of this year, the report of the Commission on the Reform
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According to an audit report released by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada in December 2011, Transport Canada has not designed and implemented the management practices needed to effectively monitor regulatory compliance with the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, 1992. Key audit findings included …

Canadian law firm Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP has issued a summary of environmental law that applies to projects in the Alberta, Canada oil sands in western Canada. Oil sands are composed primarily of sand, bitumen, mineral-rich clays and water. Bitumen, in its raw state, is a heavy, viscous, crude oil. According to the Alberta government, Alberta’s oil sands have 170.4 billion barrels of proven reversible reserves. These reserves are the second-highest source of proven crude oil reserves in the world, second only to Saudi Arabia , , ,

Canadian law firm Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP has issued Blakes Guide to Environmental Law in Canada, an introductory summary of the principal laws and regulations of Canadian environmental law. The guide also provides an overview of environmental law in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, and British Columbia. Chapters include Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA) Canadian
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From Environment Canada. Canada’s Environment Minister Peter Kent announced in August that the Canadian government is moving forward with regulations for the coal-fired electricity sector. “Our strategy to lower our emissions is based on making improvements sector by sector to sustain our economy and protect our environment,” said Minister Kent. “We are taking action in the
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The surprising thing about Canada’s May 2, 2011 federal election is not so much that the Canadian electorate returned a majority at last for Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s minority Conservative government but that it deserted the Liberal Party in droves to catapult the National Democratic Party (NDP) into second position, making the NDP Canada’s official opposition party for the first time in its history. Politically polarized to the right and to the left, the Conservatives and the NDP are also at odds in their approach to the environment […]

The Ontario Power Authority is developing two new Clean Energy Standard Offer Programs, one for natural gas-fired combined heat and power (CHPSOP), the other for energy recovery (ERSOP) from by-products fuel and under utilized energy resources. These programs potentially offer exciting opportunities for Ontario’s industries. Consultation will be carried out over the next couple of months.
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The Ontario Power Authority is introducing a new Feed-In Tariff for commercial aggregators, called the CFIT (commercial feed-in-tariff) Program. The program is intended for micro-fit generation projects where the proponent has multiple projects, is not eligible for the microFIT program or needs to give its lender step in rights. The proposed price is 71.3 cents/kWh)
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Since 2004, members of the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) have been required to implement MAC’s Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) initiative. This initiative requires member companies to implement programs to meet requirements under the following performance indicators: Tailings Management Energy Use and GHG Emissions Management Crisis Management Planning External Outreach Many mining companies are applying
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