Notice Regarding Exemption of Category A Projects in the Ministry of Infrastructure Public Work Class Environmental Assessment from the Environmental Assessment Act

Amendments to Environmental Assessment Act made under the More Homes, More Choice Act came into effect on June 6, 2019.

Amendments that are relevant to the Ministry of Infrastructure Public Work Class Environmental Assessment (PW Class EA) are already being implemented, and are noted below pending revisions to the PW Class EA to reflect these changes:

• Section 15.3(1) of the Environmental Assessment Act allows for the exemption of one or more undertakings within a “class” as a result of the evaluation of screening criteria within the class environmental assessment. Specifically:
• Section 15.3(3) indicates that projects evaluated using screening criteria under the Class Environmental Assessment Process for Management Board Secretariat and Ontario Realty Corporation (now the Public Work Class Environmental Assessment) can be exempt from the EA Act provided compliance with conditions specified within the Class EA. Category A undertakings under the PW Class EA have no notice, submission or approval requirements, no mandatory consultation and no documentation requirements (PW Class EA, p13).
• Section 15.3(4) exempts projects from the EA Act categorized as “A” under the Class Environmental Assessment Process for Management Board Secretariat and Ontario Realty Corporation (now the Public Work Class Environmental Assessment) which are identified in Table 2.2 Category Listing Matrix in the Public Work Class EA.