(Return tabled) Question No. 611 Ms. Kirsty Duncan: With respect to the government’s plans for resource development, as described in the section entitled “Responsible Resource Development” in Chapter 3.2 of Budget 2012: (a) what are all examples of federal environmental laws that are stronger than provincial laws and how will the proposed legislative changes to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) affect the assessment of environmental impacts of industrial projects that cross provincial borders; (b) what research, action ...[+++], or investment has the government undertaken to study impacts of the proposed legislative changes to the CEAA on (i) regulatory decision-making, (ii) risk of project-specific and cumulative environmental impacts, (iii) risk mitigation by developers, (iv) Canada’s reputation; (c) what briefing notes, memos, or any other documentation, including, for each, the details of its findings and recommendations, have been provided to the Prime Minister, Minister of Natural Resources, Minister of the Environment, their respective Parliamentary Secretaries, their respective Deputy Ministers, and their respective staff members, regarding impacts of the proposed legislative changes to the CEAA on (i) regulatory decision-making, (ii) risk of project-specific and cumulative environmental impacts, (iii) mitigation by developers, (iv) Canada’s reputation; (d) will the proposed legislative changes to the CEAA give any consideration to (i) measuring negative impacts of development, (ii) managing negative impacts of development; (e) by what date will the government bring forth new “legislation to streamline the review process for major economic projects” (Budget 2012, p. 89); (f) what are the projected costs of changes to the CEAA for each province and territory; (g) what assessments of the adequacy of the environmental assessment process in each province and territory have been conducted, (i) what were the dates of any such assessments, (ii) what wer ...

General principles for the assessment of environmental effects should be laid down with a view to supplementing and coordinating development consent procedures governing public and private projects likely to have a major effect on the environment.

6. Each Party shall encourage operators whose activities have a significant impact on the environment to inform the public regularly of the environmental impact of their activities and products, where appropriate within the framework of voluntary eco-labelling or eco-auditing schemes or by other means.

(7) The United Nations/Economic Commission for Europe Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context of 25 February 1991, which applies to both Member States and other States, encourages the parties to the Convention to apply its principles to plans and programmes as well; at the second meeting of the Parties to the Convention in Sofia on 26 and 27 February 2001, it was decided to prepare a legally binding protocol on strategic environmental assessment which would supplement the existing ...[+++] provisions on environmental impact assessment in a transboundary context, with a view to its possible adoption on the occasion of the 5th Ministerial Conference "Environment for Europe" at an extraordinary meeting of the Parties to the Convention, scheduled for May 2003 in Kiev, Ukraine.

Where the environmental appraisal shows that a proposal is likely to have a significant impact on the environment, the environmental consequences will be assessed in more detail.

, and "Canada and the European Community .will join their efforts in the protection of the environment and the pursuit of sustainable development within each country as well as the preservation of the fragile global eco-system", Declare their intention to strengthen further their cooperation in the following areas: * multilateral negotiations of the conventions on climate change, on the conservation of biological diversity, and on a global forest convention or agreement; * preparations for the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development currently underway; * the follow-up of the implementation of the Montreal Protocol ...[+++] on substances that deplete the ozone layer and the Basel Convention on the control of transboundary movement of hazardous wastes and their disposal; * the cooperation with Eastern and Central Europe in the G-24 and in the framework of the UN Economic Commission for Europe; * the bilateral ministerial initiative to ensure conservation and rational management of living marine resources in the Northwest Atlantic; - 2 - * the pursuit of effective measures to address the pressing issue of marine pollution, particularly from land-based sources; * working together through UNCED to develop comprehensive principles for the conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests; * the closely linked issues of the development and use of economic and fiscal instruments in the implementation of environmental policy objectives; * the exchange of views on waste management, the implementation of environmental impact assessment, the development and application of environmental legislation and all matters of water quality.