Thank you.

Madam Chair and honourable members, it is a pleasure to be here with you today.

The Canadian Construction Association represents the non-residential sector in the construction industry in Canada. We build Canada's infrastructure: shopping malls, industrial facilities, schools, hospitals, and condominium developments. Essentially, we build everything except single-family homes.

We have an integrated membership structure of some 70 local and provincial associations from coast to coast to coast, with a membership of just over 20,000 firms, more than 95% of which are small and medium-sized businesses.

As a whole, the construction industry employs approximately 1.4 million Canadians and accounts for 7% of Canada's overall gross domestic product, so it's fair to say that we're an essential element of the economic viability of Canada.

We very much appreciate the opportunity to be before you and to share some of our views on the Navigation Protection Act.

Let me start by saying that our members were very pleased with the changes made in 2012 in conjunction with amendments made to both the Fisheries Act and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. It has been said that the 2012 changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act reduced environmental protections across the country. We couldn't disagree more.

To begin with, the amended act was no longer a trigger for the environmental assessment under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. Any change to that would have to be taken into consideration with the changes that were made to CEAA. To do that unilaterally with respect to this act without taking into consideration the changes that were made to CEAA to ensure that the triggers were reasonable would be a gross oversight.

Protecting the right to navigate waters in Canada has nothing to do with—nor should it have been, as I've just mentioned—a trigger for environmental assessment and the protection of the environment, which is already within the mandate of the federal government.

The federal government already has the Fisheries Act to protect fisheries and fish habitat; the Canadian Environmental Protection Act to protect water rights and land from the dumping of chemicals and other substances; the Species at Risk Act to protect threatened and endangered species; the Migratory Birds Convention Act for the protection of migratory birds; as well as a number of related regulations and policies specific to various industries, such as pulp and paper, mining and petroleum refining, and the protection of wetlands.

Furthermore, it is a little disingenuous on the part of motivated stakeholders to think that only the federal government protects the environment. Provinces, territories, aboriginal governments, and municipalities have a full suite of laws and regulations that also protect the environment.

With all that said, I come back to my basic premise. The Navigation Protection Act is about protecting the common law right to commercial navigation in Canada. It is not about environmental protection. As the minister himself stated in his appearance before you, “The purpose of the act is to balance the right of navigation with a need to construct infrastructure such as bridges and dams.”

Since it is our members who build those infrastructure assets, our work is often regulated under this act. Under the current system, proponents are able to self-assess, and since most of our products are designated works as defined by the minor works order, there is no need for Transport Canada to issue a permit. This clarity, certainty, and predictability is good for our industry.

I'll give you one example under the Fisheries Act. The Fisheries Act will issue guidelines as to how culverts and other structures need to be built over fish habitats. Knowing that in advance allows us to design and propose designs in construction with respect to those structures. It is a clear process. It can become a very timely process, because we can work that into our own designs.

Under the previous act, there was no ability to self-assess, so all decisions to proceed with construction required Transport Canada approval, and the attendant bureaucratic processes and delays, as you have heard from the other witnesses earlier today, happened in almost every case. They were the rule rather than the exception.

Furthermore, many of these assessments were only carried out after an environmental assessment approval had been completed and the project approved for development. If there's one thing we builders can't stand it's inconsistency; it's a green light turning amber going red. We want certainty, we want schedule, we want timeliness. The more the legislation and regulation can give us that, the better for all parties.

In summary, we would recommend, first, to keep Transport Canada's focus under this legislation on bodies of water most utilized for commercial and important recreational navigation.

Second, enhance the self-enhancement process by expanding the list of projects on the minor works order, providing design performance criteria that are clear. Many of these projects are perfunctory and should be able to proceed without any type of permitting circumstances.

Third, do not recommend the Navigation Protection Act be used as a means to trigger the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act because the protection of commercial navigation has nothing to do with protecting the environment, and the amendments to triggering CEAA 2012 using a list-based approach has massively improved the timeliness and certainty of federal environmental assessments. That goes back to my opening point that anything you were to do in that area with respect to this act must be considered in conjunction with the amendments that were made in the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act about the same time.

That concludes my remarks. I would be happy to take questions.

Transcript

Discussions (0)