Canada moving to update environmental protection regulations

The Canadian government has renewed its pledge to strengthen the way it regulates harmful substances, but legislative changes are unlikely before the next federal election in October 2019.

Canada’s minister for environment and climate change, Catherine McKenna, responded last week to 87 recommendations made by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment & Sustainable Development last year that urged substantial changes to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. The act, which is nearly 20 years old, is designed to protect human and environmental health by regulating chemical management and air pollution.

In her June 29 follow-up report to the committee, McKenna said the federal government agrees with many of the committee’s recommendations.

Those recommendations include reversing the burden of proof onto industry for demonstrating the safety of “substances of very high concern.” This recommendation is based on the European REACH program, under which substances such as carcinogens and those toxic to reproduction are prohibited unless industry can prove they can be used safely and that there are no feasible alternatives.

The committee also recommended strengthening the government’s ability to demand data and testing results when deciding whether to control a substance, and to require warning labels on all products containing hazardous substances.

McKenna said the Trudeau administration is committed to introducing a bill to reform the act as soon as possible. The government will consult with “industry, civil society, Indigenous Peoples and others” to update the legislation, she said.

But with Parliament recessed for the summer and the need for consultations and the drafting of new legislation, amendments to the act are unlikely to pass before the October 2019 election. Even then, there is no guarantee the current Liberal administration will retain its majority.

In the meantime, McKenna said the government is working to make changes that don’t require legislation. For example, it is developing a policy framework for considering vulnerable populations—such as children, pregnant women, and the elderly—in the assessment and management of chemicals. It is also working on mandatory labeling for products containing toxic chemicals.

Tim Gray, executive director for Environmental Defence, an advocacy group, said he was pleased with the government’s commitment to mandatory labeling and policies for vulnerable populations.

“I think the content of their response is quite good,” Gray said. However, “We’re not happy about the delay” to draft and pass legislation, he says.

When the House of Commons environment committee issued its recommendations last year, Bob Masterson, president of the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada, warned that if adopted in full, the recommendations would “threaten innovation and investment in the chemistry sector.”

Asked to comment this week after McKenna’s follow-up report, Masterson said he was pleased to see the government restate its commitment to “the risk-based assessment and management of chemicals in Canada.”