Canada’s mining industry is governed by both federal and provincial levels of government, and significant efforts have been undertaken by industry stakeholders in the past three years to reduce the bureaucratic overlaps that have plagued Canada’s mining sector for years, says industry body the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) president and CEO Pierre Gratton.

He tells Mining Weekly that he hopes, in the next five to ten years, the global mining community will regard Canada as a country with a highly efficient mining licensing system.

“Provincial governments are the primary mining regulatory authorities; however, the federal government . . . is involved in certain aspects, particularly . . . environmental matters,” Gratton explains.

He adds that, as a developed country, both levels of government have been building their regulatory systems for several decades, which is why the system governing the country’s mining industry is so complex.

Removing Red Tape

Gratton cites the country’s environmental assessment (EA) policy as an example of this regulatory complexity.

“The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act was enacted in 1993 and, at that time, only one or two of Canada’s provinces had EA reviews.”

Today, however, all provinces have EA regimes. Mines, therefore, have to undertake two environmental assessments – a federal assessment and a provincial assessment – for a single mining project.

“Mining companies have continuously expressed their displeasure to provincial and federal governments about having to duplicate this process, which costs all stakeholders significant time, effort and money,” says Gratton.

He points out that, over the past 10 to 15 years, the MAC has advocated for improved coordination between the different tiers of government to avoid the duplication of the EA process.

Gratton notes that there have been some important improvements in the EA process. “Our federal EA system is now significantly more efficient than it used to be and . . . there are some agreements between some provincial governments and the federal government on the principle of substitution.”

The principle of substitution has been in effect since 2012 and stipulates that an EA can be undertaken either by the federal or the provincial government, with the results submitted for approval by both government authorities.

Gratton says: “At least when there is substitution, the EA process is undertaken only once.” He adds that the substitution principle “is an important step in the right direction to remove some of the unnecessary layers of bureaucracy in the Canadian mining sector”.

He further highlights the process of equivalency, which was also introduced in 2012, whereby the federal government will recognise a provincial EA as equivalent to a federal EA.

“Under equivalency, one government (federal or provincial) undertakes the EA and renders a decision on the project (to approve or not) on behalf of both governments.”

While the equivalency principle has not been used to date, it is still a potential legal mechanism available to governments that could expedite the EA process.

Gratton adds that earlier reforms to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act in 2010 also eliminated one of the most significant causes of delays, namely the identification of a federal department, which is responsible for undertaking the EA.

“Some mining companies knew that, by law, a federal EA was required, but no single federal government department was mandated to conduct EAs, which resulted in different federal departments undertaking an EA on different occasions, including the departments of Fisheries and Oceans, Natural Resources and the Environment.”

Gratton emphasises that, before 2010, none of the federal departments really wanted to take responsibility for the EA process, and none were building the internal capacity for EA reviews.

The MAC estimates that it used to take about 18 months, on average, just to identify the federal department that would lead the EA.

In 2010, that changed when the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, which has existed since 1993, as an advisory body to government departments, was given full responsibility for managing the EA process. As a consequence, EAs now start as soon as the application is made.