The new Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) report, released this month, recommends numerous amendments to the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) – changes that, among other things, centre on the provincial government being held to greater accountability when it comes to decisions potentially impacting the environment.
The report, titled New Environmental Bill of Rights for Ontario, contains 58 recommendations.
The need for the report comes from the EBR having lost its bite over the years, LCO executive director Nye Thomas told Law360 Canada.
LCO executive director Nye Thomas
Thomas was asked what he meant by the EBR being “taken over by events.” To this, he said the EBR was originally based on a “political accountability model.”
“There was this idea that the disclosure of environmentally significant decisions — giving the public notice and a chance to comment on those decisions — would ensure appropriate accountability for government decisions. Well, it just doesn’t work. There have been changes to the legislation that exempt categories of decisions. Things like important tools [such as] statements of environmental values have not been updated or implemented as well as they should have been.”
Thomas was asked if the report is directed specifically at Premier Doug Ford and his PCs, given the government has commonly been accused of pushing development at the expense of the environment.
Recently, the government took heat for introducing its “Get It Done” Act, a load of legislative amendments that would fast-track development and, at the same time, shorten environmental assessments.
To this, Thomas said the LCO is nonpartisan.
“We don’t take aim at any specific government. In fact, what we show in this report is that a lot of the problems with the EBR actually precede the current government. These are longstanding issues. … Obviously, we submit the report to the current government and hope they implement [the recommendations].”
So, is Thomas confident the Ford government will do that?
“I’m confident that they’ll take them seriously. Whether or not they implement some or all of them, I can’t predict. In the past, we’ve had pretty good success in getting our recommendations implemented — including by this government.”
But Thomas’ optimism is tempered by the number of recommendations in the report, which he describes as a “mixed bag” that includes some complex elements.
“There are a lot of recommendations there,” he said.
For one, it calls for the EBR to “be amended to state that every person residing in Ontario has a right to a healthy environment.”
Another recommendation is that the EBR should be amended “to allow a person to commence an environmental protection action in a court … against a person who contravenes any provision in a provincial Act, regulation or instrument” that causes — or is likely to cause — significant harm to the environment.
The report also calls for a “separate stand-alone” Office of the Environmental Commissioner, who would possess the power to comment on proposed bills, regulations and policies — as well as those approved and in force — and be able to weigh in on the government’s progress in “addressing energy conservation, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and [board] environmental sustainability.”
Comment from the provincial government was not received by press time.
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