The Canadian Senate passed Bill C-9, the Budget Implementation Bill, effectively changing the Environmental Assessments Act. Bill C-9 will see that greater authority and discretion be given to the Minister of the Environment in deciding the scope of environmental impact assessments when large industrial projects are assessed. Some have criticized that this measure leaves open the door for accelerated industrial development without the required environmental checks and balances, but others insist that the measure will streamline new projects and simply avoids duplicative studies.

Tomorrow, the House is expected to rise for the summer and the Senate will follow in the coming days or weeks. Bill C-9 was passed through the House with the tacit consent of the Liberal party, which held back 30 members from voting last week, allowing the bill to proceed to the Senate. The NDP and Bloc voted against it, while the governing Conservative party voted for the bill.

By Jeff Beyer, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)