Fed publishes action plan to accelerate clean growth projects

OTTAWA — The Canadian federal government has released Building Canada’s Clean Future, an action plan to modernize federal assessment and approval processes and accelerate the delivery of projects that contribute to the fight against climate change.

The Ministerial Working Group on Regulatory Efficiency for Clean Growth Projects has developed an action plan to accelerate decisions on clean growth projects, advancing work to secure investment and economic growth in all regions of Canada.

The process also sought input and recommendations on how to make assessment and approval processes more efficient and predictable, according to a press release.

The group heard that action must be guided by transparency, coordination, clarity and predictability; that these processes must continue to protect Canadians and the environment; and that Indigenous peoples must be actively involved from the outset.

The working group prioritized solutions for how the federal government can achieve timely decisions and faster performance without cutting corners and proposed concrete steps to make current processes more efficient by clarifying and shortening timelines, mitigating inefficiencies, reducing duplication of effort and improving engagement, the press release added.

The most important measures include:

• The evaluation and approval periods are five years for federal government projects, a maximum of two years for other types of projects and three years for nuclear projects.
• Establish a Crown Consultation Coordinator to ensure meaningful Crown consultation with Indigenous peoples in the issuance of federal permits.
• Establish a federal approval coordinator for clean growth projects within the Clean Growth Office of the Privy Council Office and issue a Cabinet directive that clearly outlines the roles and responsibilities of all relevant federal departments.
• Natural Resources Canada’s regional energy and resource tables, which currently cover 11 of 13 jurisdictions, can be used to test permitting efficiency and find better ways to coordinate with provinces and territories.
• Change of Impact Assessment Act.
• Establish a new federal permitting dashboard that provides the public with an overview of the status of clean growth projects that require federal evaluation and permitting decisions.