Details
- Full Title
- An Act to amend the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, to make related amendments to the Food and Drugs Act and to repeal the Perfluorooctane Sulfonate Virtual Elimination Act
- First Reading
- February 8, 2022, Parliament 44, Session 1
- Type
- Senate Government Bill
- Full Content
- https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bill/44-1/s-5
Summary
The Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act (Bill S-5) amends the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA) and makes related changes to the Food and Drugs Act. It also repeals the Perfluorooctane Sulfonate Virtual Elimination Act. The bill recognizes that every person in Canada has the right to a healthy environment, and the government must protect that right. An implementation framework will be developed to consider this right when CEPA is used.
Key changes to CEPA include adding substances to and deleting substances from the Domestic Substances List, requiring the creation of a plan that prioritizes which substances should be assessed for toxicity, and allowing people to request substance assessments. The bill also requires ministers to consider vulnerable populations and cumulative effects when assessing substances. It also expands powers related to regulation-making, information gathering, and pollution prevention.
Amendments to the Food and Drugs Act enable better assessment and management of environmental risks associated with foods, drugs, cosmetics, and devices. The Minister of Health can now take action to address environmental risks throughout a drug's life cycle. A person cannot sell or create drugs that contain substances that can cause risk to the environment, unless the Minister of Health has done an assessment of the risk to the environment that the substance can cause.
Finally, the bill mandates a report on consultations with Indigenous peoples and governments, measures to advance reconciliation, and findings from reports related to the Act's administration concerning Indigenous peoples.
Issues
Environment
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Environmental Protection
This bill aims to strengthen environmental protection in Canada. It does this by amending the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999. The bill recognizes that everyone in Canada has a right to a healthy environment. The government has to protect this right and create a plan to make sure this happens. This plan will include research and ways to keep the environment clean and healthy.
The bill also makes it easier to control harmful substances. The government can add or remove substances from a list of chemicals used in Canada. The government will create a plan to decide which chemicals to check first to see if they are toxic. People can also ask the government to check a chemical. When checking chemicals, the government will think about people who might be more at risk, like children or the elderly. They will also think about how different chemicals might affect people when they are mixed together.
The bill also gives the government more power to create rules to stop pollution. They can ask companies to create plans to prevent pollution. The bill also changes the Food and Drugs Act to help manage risks to the environment from things like food, medicine, and cosmetics. The bill also expands the list of toxic substances in Schedule 1.
Social Justice
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Reconciliation
This bill requires the Minister to include information in the annual report related to consultations with Indigenous peoples and governments, measures taken to advance reconciliation, and key findings from reports related to the Act's administration concerning Indigenous peoples.