Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act

"Environmental effects" under the "new CEAA will be limited to effects on fish, aquatic species under the Species at Risk Act, migratory birds. A broader view of impacts is limited to: federal lands, Aboriginal peoples, and changes to the environment "directly linked or necessarily incidental" to federal approval (May 2012)."[7]

The Agency will have 45 days after receiving an application to decide if an assessment is required. Environmental assessments are no longer required for projects involving federal money. The Minister is given wide discretion to decide. New "substitution" rules allow Ottawa to download EAs to the provinces; "comprehensive" studies are eliminated. Cabinet will be able to over-rule decisions. A retroactive section sets the clock at July 2010 for existing projects (May 2012).[7]

The present one-year limit to permits for disposing waste at sea can now be renewed four times. The three- and five-year time limits protecting Species at Risk from industrial harm will now be open-ended (May 2012).[7]

"This legislation, which required government accountability and results reporting on climate change policies, is being repealed (May 2012)."[7]

Senator Angus Cowan[8] at the 1st Session, 41st Parliament (June 21, 2012) expressed his concerns. "There are a number of proposed changes to the Fisheries Act that are causing deep concern among Canadians. The bill amends the act to limit fish protection to the support of "commercial, recreational and Aboriginal fisheries." Protection of fish habitat is relegated to a vastly lower priority — something that caused those four former fisheries ministers, in their words, "especial alarm."[8] Cowan also expressed dismay at the closure of Experimental Lakes Area.

Bill C-38 eliminates $2 million in annual funding to the Experimental Lakes Area in northwestern Ontario. This research centre will close within a year if a new operator cannot be found. John Smol, a biologist at Queen’s University, has said that the Experimental Lakes Area is the best-known freshwater research facility on the planet. The planned closure of the centre was the subject of an article on May 21 in Nature magazine.

— Senator Cowan 2012

According to Elizabeth May,[7]

Fish habitat provisions will be changed to protect only fish of "commercial, Aboriginal, and recreational" value and even those habitat protections are weakened. The new provisions create an incentive to drain a lake and kill all the fish, if not in a fishery, in order to fill a dry hole with mining tailings.

— Elizabeth May 2012

In 2012 the Government of Canada closed the Department of Fisheries contaminants program and Dr. Peter Ross and 55 of his colleagues across Canada. Dr. Peter Ross was Canada's only marine mammal toxicologist. Along with his team, they spent 15 years studying "the increasing levels of toxins in oceans and in animals like the killer whale."[9]

"Pipelines and power lines will be exempt from the provisions of this Act. Also, the National Energy Board absorbs the Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA) whenever a pipeline crosses navigable waters. The NWPA is amended to say a pipeline is not a "work" within that Act (May 2012)."[7]

The National Energy Board Act was changed so that, "NEB reviews will be limited to two years – and then its decisions can be reversed by the Cabinet, including the present Northern Gateway Pipeline review (May 2012)."[7]

The Species at Risk Act (SARA) "is being amended to exempt the National Energy Board from having to impose conditions to protect critical habitat on projects it approves. Also, companies won’t have to renew permits on projects threatening critical habitat (May 2012)."[7] The David Suzuki Foundation argued that,[10]

Bill C-38 removes the time limitations on permits and agreements allowing activities that affect species at risk or their habitat (previously restricted to three and five years, respectively). In addition, Bill C-38 exempts the National Energy Board, when reviewing pipeline applications, from a requirement in the Species at Risk Act to consider and seek to minimize impacts on the habitat of species at risk.

— Suzuki Foundation May 2012

"Reporting requirements are being reduced, including the annual report. 638 of the nearly 3000 Parks Canada workers will be cut. Environmental monitoring and ecological restoration in the Gulf Islands National Park are being cut (May 2012)."[7]

The Canadian Oil and Gas Operations Act was "changed to exempt pipelines from the Navigational Waters Protection Act (May 2012)."[7]

The Coasting Trade Act was changed to promote seismic testing allowing increased off-shore drilling (May 2012)."[7]

The Nuclear Safety Control Act: "Environmental Assessments will be moved to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, which is a licensing body not an assessing body – so there is a built-in conflict (May 2012)."[7]

The Canada Seeds Act: This is being revamped so the job of inspecting seed crops is transferred from Canadian Food Inspection Agency inspectors to "authorized service providers" in the private sector (May 2012).[7]

"Under the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act, publicly owned grasslands have acted as community pastures under federal management, leasing grazing rights to farmers so they could devote their good land to crops, not livestock. This will end. Also, the Centre for Plant Health in Sidney, BC, an important site for quarantine and virus-testing on plant stock strategically located across the Salish Sea to protect BC's primary agricultural regions, will be moved to the heart of BC's fruit and wine industries (May 2012)."[7]

The National Round Table on Environment and Economy (NRTEE), was closed down by Bill C-38.[11] "The NRTEE brought industry leaders, environmentalists, First Nations, labour, and policy makers together to provide non-partisan research and advice on federal policies. Its demise will leave a policy vacuum in relation to Canada`s economic development (May 2012)."[7]

Environment Canada is "cutting several water-related programs and others will be cut severely, including some aimed at promoting or monitoring water-use efficiency (May 2012)."[7]

The Municipal Water and Wastewater Survey, the "only national study of water consumption habits, is being cut after being in place since 1983 (May 2012)."[7]

Environment Canada's Environmental Effects Monitoring Program, a "systematic method for measuring the quality of effluent discharge, including from mines and pulp mills, will be cut by 20 percent (May 2012)."[7]