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CELA submitted a letter to Ontario’s Commissioner of the Environment in relation to the recent passage of Bill 109 in a manner that contravenes public participation rights under the Environmental Bill of Rights.
Given cumulative assaults on regional forests and wetlands as well as the deterioration in local water quality and aquatic and amphibian species, a valid question arises: Is Ontario’s current system of land use planning protecting our waters?
The Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) says Bill S-5, currently before the Senate of Canada, won’t fix the problem of emissions of cancer-causing agents in the environment unless the federal government improves the Bill’s approach to pollution prevention under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA).
The international situation on industrial chemicals is mirrored in Canada where the federal government is playing regulatory whack-a-mole with some of the most dangerous chemicals on the planet and proposed government amendments to the country’s primary law for controlling the risks these substances pose to human health and the environment may perpetuate, not stop the problem. That is the overall conclusion of CELA’s analysis of national pollution data when compared to proposed government amendments to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) found in Bill S-5 now being considered in the Senate of Canada.
CELA has provided comments in response to the proposed amendments to the Greenbelt Plan – Growing the size of the Greenbelt
Canada has put serious effort into protecting the public through regulation of corporate behaviour in key sectors of our economy such as transportation, energy, health, finance, construction. But have our public regulators been captured by the corporations they regulate? Join a panel of experts whose new book (being launched at this event) explores this question and suggests how to ensure the public interest is protected.
On behalf of several environmental organizations and individuals, CELA sought a judicial review in Divisional Court of the statutory decision by two Ontario Cabinet Ministers that denied our clients and other members of the public their legal right to be notified and consulted on environmentally significant legislative amendments contained in Bill 197 (COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act, 2020) before they were enacted by the Ontario Legislature on July 21, 2020. These amendments include changes to the Environmental Assessment Act (EAA), the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) and the Planning Act.
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This site contains general legal information for Ontario, Canada. It is not intended to be used as legal advice for a specific legal problem.
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