Bill C-474

2nd Session, 39th Parliament,

56-57 Elizabeth II, 2007-2008

house of commons of canada

BILL C-474

An Act to require the development and implementation of a Federal Sustainable Development Strategy and the development of goals and targets with respect to sustainable development in Canada, and to make consequential amendments to another Act

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

SHORT TITLE

1. This Act may be cited as the Federal Sustainable Development Act.

INTERPRETATION

2. The following definitions apply in this Act.

“Commissioner” means the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development appointed under subsection 15.1(1) of the Auditor General Act.

“Minister” means the Minister of the Environment.

“precautionary principle” means the principle that where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.

“sustainability” means the capacity of a thing, action, activity, or process to be maintained indefinitely.

“sustainable development” means development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

“target” means a measurable objective.

PURPOSE

3. The purpose of this Act is to provide the legal framework for developing and implementing a Federal Sustainable Development Strategy that will make environmental decision-making more transparent and accountable to Parliament.

HER MAJESTY

4. This Act and the regulations are binding on Her Majesty in right of Canada.

BASIC PRINCIPLE

5. The Government of Canada accepts the basic principle that sustainable development is based on an ecologically efficient use of natural, social and economic resources and acknowledges the need to integrate environmental, economic and social factors in the making of all decisions by government.

COMMITTEE

6. A committee of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada, consisting of a Chairperson and other members of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada, shall have oversight of the development and implementation of the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy.

OFFICE

7. (1) The Minister shall establish a Sustainable Development Office within the Department of the Environment to develop and maintain systems and procedures to monitor progress on implementation of the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy.

(2) The Office shall, at least once every three years after the day on which this Act comes into force, provide the Minister with a report on the progress of the federal government in implementing the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy. The Minister shall cause the report to be laid before the House of Commons on any of the first 15 days on which that House is sitting after the Minister receives it.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL

8. (1) The Minister shall appoint a Sustainable Development Advisory Council composed of one representative from each province and territory, and three representatives from each of the following:

(a) Aboriginal peoples;

(b) environmental non-governmental organizations;

(c) organizations representative of business; and

(d) organizations representative of labour.

(2) The Minister is the chair of the Sustainable Development Advisory Council.

(3) The representatives appointed to the Sustainable Development Advisory Council shall hold office without remuneration and shall not be reimbursed for expenses incurred in the course of their duties.

FEDERAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

9. (1) Within two years after this Act comes into force and within every three-year period after that, the Minister shall develop, in accordance with this section, a Federal Sustainable Development Strategy based on the precautionary principle.

(2) The Federal Sustainable Development Strategy shall set out federal sustainable development goals and targets and an implementation strategy for meeting each target and identify the minister responsible for meeting each target.

(3) The Minister shall submit a draft of the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy to the Sustainable Development Advisory Council, the standing committee of the House of Commons that normally considers matters relating to the environment or to any other committee that the House may designate for the purpose of this section and the public for review and comment, for which the Minister shall allow a period of not less than 120 days.

(4) The Minister shall at the same time submit the draft of the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy to the Commissioner for review and comment as to whether the targets and implementation strategies can be assessed, for which the Minister shall allow a period of not less than 120 days.

10. (1) The Minister shall, within the period referred to in subsection 9(1), submit the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy to the Governor in Council for approval as the official Federal Sustainable Development Strategy.

(2) The Minister shall table the official Federal Sustainable Development Strategy in each House of Parliament within the period referred to in subsection 9(1) or on any of the first 15 days thereafter on which that House is sitting.

(3) A Federal Sustainable Development Strategy that is tabled in the House of Commons is deemed to be referred to the standing committee of the House that normally considers matters relating to the environment or to any other committee that the House may designate for the purposes of this section.

11. (1) Each Minister presiding over a department named in Schedule I to the Financial Administration Act, or an agency named in the schedule of this Act shall cause the department or agency to prepare a sustainable development strategy containing objectives and plans for the department or agency that complies with and contributes to the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, appropriate to the department or agency's mandate and shall cause the strategy to be laid before the House of Commons within one year after the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy is tabled in that House under section 10.

(2) A minister to whom subsection (1) applies shall cause the department's sustainable development strategy to be updated at least once every three years and shall cause each updated strategy to be laid before the House of Commons on any of the next 15 days on which that House is sitting after the strategy is updated.

(3) The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of a minister presiding over a department not named in Schedule I to the Financial Administration Act, or agency not named in the schedule of this Act, direct that the requirements of subsections (1) and (2) apply in respect of the department or agency.

(4) The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister, make regulations prescribing the form in which sustainable development strategies are to be prepared and the information required to be contained in them.

12. Performance-based contracts with the Government of Canada shall include provisions for meeting the applicable targets referred to in the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy and the Departmental Sustainable Development Strategies.

REGULATIONS

13. The Governor in Council may make regulations for the purpose of achieving any of the goals of this Act.

14. The directions made under subsection 24(3) of the Auditor General Act, as this subsection read immediately before the coming into force of section 18 of this Act, remain in force and are deemed to have been made under subsection 11(3) of this Act.

Auditor General Act

15. (1) The definition “sustainable development strategy” in section 2 of the Auditor General Act is repealed.

(2) The definition “category I department” in section 2 of the Act is replaced by the following:

“category I department” means

(a) any department named in schedule I to the Financial Administration Act;

(b) any department in respect of which a direction has been made under subsection 11(3) of the Federal Sustainable Development Act; and

(c) any agency set out in the schedule to the Federal Sustainable Development Act.

16. The portion of section 21.1 of the Act before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:

21.1 In addition to carrying out the functions referred to in subsections 23(3) and (4), the purpose of the Commissioner is to provide sustainable development monitoring and reporting on the progress of category I departments towards sustainable development, which is a continually evolving concept based on the integration of social, economic and environmental concerns, and which may be achieved by, among other things,

17. Section 23 of the Act is replaced by the following:

23. (1) The Commissioner shall make any examinations and inquiries that the Commissioner considers necessary in order to monitor

(a) the extent to which category I departments have contributed to meeting the targets set out in the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy and have met the objectives, and implemented the plans, set out in their own sustainable development strategies laid before the House of Commons under section 11 of the Federal Sustainable Development Act; and

(b) the replies by Ministers required by subsection 22(3).

(2) The Commissioner shall, on behalf of the Auditor General, report annually to the House of Commons concerning anything that the Commissioner considers should be brought to the attention of that House in relation to environmental and other aspects of sustainable development, including

(a) the extent to which category I departments have contributed to meeting the targets set out in the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy and have met the objectives, and implemented the plans, set out in their own sustainable development strategies laid before that House under section 11 of the Federal Sustainable Development Act;

(b) the number of petitions recorded as required by subsection 22(1), the subject-matter of the petitions and their status; and

(c) the exercising of the authority of the Governor in Council under subsections 11(3) and (4) of the Federal Sustainable Development Act.

(3) The Commissioner shall examine the report required under subsection 7(2) of the Federal Sustainable Development Act in order to assess the fairness of the information contained in the report with respect to the progress of the federal government in implementing the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy and meeting its targets.

(4) The Commissioner shall include in the report referred to in subsection (2) the results of any assessment conducted under subsection (3) since the last report was laid before the House of Commons under subsection (5).

(5) The report required by subsection (2) shall be submitted to the Speaker of the House of Commons and shall be laid before that House by the Speaker on any of the next 15 days on which that House is sitting after the Speaker receives it.

18. Section 24 of the Act is repealed.

19. The schedule to the Act is repealed.