Great Lakes Protection Act, 2015 Murray, Hon. Glen R. Minister of the Environment and Climate Change — Bill 66 (41st Parliament, 1st Session)

Bill 66, 41-1

Ontario — Bills

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Bill 66, Great Lakes Protection Act, 2015

Murray, Hon. Glen R. Minister of the Environment and Climate Change

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Status

Debates

Original

As Amended by Standing Committee

Royal Assent

[41] Bill 66 Royal Assent (PDF)

Bill 66 2015

An Act to protect and

restore the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin

contents

Preamble

PART I

PURPOSES AND

INTERPRETATION

Purposes

Existing

aboriginal or treaty rights

Interpretation

PART II

GREAT LAKES GUARDIANS' COUNCIL

Great

Lakes Guardians' Council

PART III

ONTARIO'S GREAT LAKES STRATEGY

Ontario's

Great Lakes Strategy maintained

Contents

Monitoring

and reporting on ecological conditions

Progress

reports

PART IV

TARGETS

Targets

PART V

PROPOSALS FOR INITIATIVES

Consultation

by Minister

Minister's

direction to develop proposal

Proposal

for initiative, contents

Minister's

options once proposal submitted

Amendment

to approved proposal

PART VI

INITIATIVES

Development

of initiative once proposal approved

Minister's

options if draft initiative submitted

Hearing

officer

Approval

of initiative by L.G. in C.

Initiative,

contents

Effect

of initiative

Official

plan and conformity

Minister's

proposals to resolve official plan non-conformity

Prescribed

instruments and conformity

Requests

for amendment of instruments

Monitoring,

reporting and reviewing policies in initiatives

Regulations

- shoreline protection in areas to which initiatives apply

PART VII

MISCELLANEOUS

Public

consultation and notice

Traditional

ecological knowledge

Delegation

by Minister

Public

request to Minister

Extensions

of time

Consideration

of purposes and principles

Great

Lakes agreements

Obligations

of public bodies

Non-application

of certain Acts

Limitations

on remedies

Conflict

with other Acts

Regulations

- L.G. in C.

Amendments

to adopted documents

PART VIII

COMMENCEMENT AND

SHORT TITLE

Commencement

Short

title

Schedule

Policies

- legal effect under sections 20 to 24

Schedule

Policies

- legal effect under

section 25

Schedule

Policies

- no legal effect

_________________

Preamble

Ontarians are fortunate to live in a

province that benefits from one of the largest freshwater ecosystems on

earth. The health of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin is critical

to present and future generations.

The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River

Basin provides for the health and well-being of Ontarians. It provides drinking

water and supports a variety of fish and other wildlife. Aboriginal communities

within the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin have important connections to

the Basin: First Nations maintain a spiritual and cultural relationship with

water and the Basin is a historic location where Métis identity emerged in

Ontario. Ontario's economy relies upon the water for electricity generation,

agriculture, manufacturing and shipping. Ontarians and visitors enjoy the

Great Lakes, Ontario's defining natural features, for the recreational

opportunities they provide and natural attractions, such as Niagara Falls.

The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River

Basin is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and in the

face of additional cumulative pressures such as development, population growth,

loss and degradation of natural features, pollution and invasive species, three

of Ontario's four Great Lakes are in decline. Co-ordinated action in and

monitoring and reporting with respect to the watersheds, lakes, rivers and

coastal areas of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin are needed to respond

to the impacts of and improve resilience to those pressures. While many

partners are working together to protect and restore the ecological health of

the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin to ensure that it provides Ontarians

with a source of water that is drinkable, swimmable and fishable, more needs to

be done.

All Ontarians have an interest in the

ecological health of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin. The Government

of Ontario seeks to involve individuals and communities in its protection and

restoration.

Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with

the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario,

enacts as follows:

Part i

Purposes and

Interpretation

Purposes

(1) The

purposes of this Act are,

(

a) to protect and restore the

ecological health of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin; and

(

b) to create opportunities for

individuals and communities to become involved in the protection and restoration

of the ecological health of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin.

Same

(2) The

purposes set out in subsection (1) include the following:

1. To protect

human health and well-being through the protection and restoration of water

quality, hydrologic functions and the ecological health of the Great Lakes-St.

Lawrence River Basin, including through the elimination or reduction of harmful

pollutants.

2. To protect

and restore watersheds, wetlands, beaches, shorelines and coastal areas of the

Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin.

3. To protect

and restore the natural habitats and biodiversity of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence

River Basin.

4. To protect

and improve the capacity of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin to respond

to the impacts and causes of climate change.

5. To improve

understanding and management of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin by

advancing science and promoting the consideration of traditional ecological

knowledge relating to existing and emerging stressors and by establishing and

maintaining monitoring and reporting programs or other actions with respect to

the ecological conditions of the Basin.

6. To enrich the

quality of life in communities in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin

through support of environmentally sustainable economic opportunities,

innovation and environmentally sustainable use of natural resources.

Existing aboriginal or treaty rights

2 . For

greater certainty, nothing in this Act shall be construed so as to abrogate or

derogate from the protection provided for the existing aboriginal and treaty

rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada as recognized and affirmed in

section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 .

Interpretation

3. In

this Act,

"designated policy" means a policy described in

Schedule

1 that has been designated in an initiative under subsection 19 (4);

("politique désignée")

"Great Lakes ministers" means the ministers responsible

for the ministries that were involved in the development of the Strategy or

that are involved in the implementation of the Strategy; ("ministres

responsables des Grands Lacs")

"Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin" means,

(

a) the part of Ontario, the water of which drains

into the Great Lakes or the St. Lawrence River, including the parts of the

Great Lakes and of the St. Lawrence River that are within Ontario, or

(

b) if the boundaries of

the area described by clause (

a) are described more specifically by the

regulations, the area within those boundaries ; ("bassin des Grands

Lacs et du fleuve Saint-Laurent")

"instrument" means any document of legal effect, including

a permit, licence, approval, authorization, direction or order, that is issued

or otherwise created under

an Act, but does not include,

(

a) a regulation within the meaning of

Part III (Regulations)

of the Legislation Act, 2006 , or

(

b) a by-law of a municipality or local board;

("acte")

"local board" has the same meaning as in the Municipal

Affairs Act ; ("conseil local")

"Minister" means, except where otherwise indicated, the

Minister of the Environment and Climate Change or any other member of the

Executive Council to whom responsibility for the administration of this Act is

assigned or transferred under the Executive Council

Act ; ("ministre ")

"Ministry" means the ministry of the Minister; (" ministère")

"municipal planning authority" means a municipal planning

authority established under

section 14.1 of the Planning

Act ; ("office d'aménagement municipal")

"planning board" means a planning board established under

section 9 or 10 of the Planning Act ; ("conseil

d'aménagement")

"prescribed instrument" means an instrument that is

prescribed by the regulations made under clause 38 (1) (a); ("acte

prescrit")

"public body" means,

(

a) a municipality, local board or conservation authority,

(

b) a ministry, board, commission, agency or official

of the Government of Ontario, or

(

c) a body that has been prescribed by the

regulations or an official of such a body; ("organisme public")

"regulations" means the regulations made under this Act;

("règlements")

"Strategy" means the document entitled "Ontario's Great

Lakes Strategy" that is published by the Government of Ontario, dated December

2012 and available to the public on a website of the Government of Ontario, as

amended under

section 5. (" Stratégie ")

Part iI

Great Lakes Guardians' Council

Great Lakes Guardians' Council

(1) A

Conseil de protection des Grands Lacs is established.

Meetings of Council

(2) The

Minister shall ensure that at least one meeting of the Council is held before

the first anniversary of the day subsection (1) comes into force and that at

least one meeting is held in every subsequent calendar year.

Invitations to meetings

(3) Before

a meeting of the Council is held, the Minister shall, as he or she considers

advisable, extend written invitations to individuals to attend and participate

in the meeting, including,

(

a) the other Great Lakes

ministers;

(

b) representatives of the

interests of municipalities located in whole or in

part in the Great Lakes-St.

Lawrence River Basin;

(

c) representatives of the

interests of First Nations and Métis communities that have a historic

relationship with the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin;

(

d) representatives of the

interests of environmental organizations, the scientific community and the

industrial, agricultural, recreational and tourism sectors in the Great

Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin and of conservation authorities that have

jurisdiction under the Conservation Authorities Act over

areas located in whole or in

part in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin;

and

(

e) representatives of any other

interests that the Minister considers should be represented at the meeting.

Council

to provide forum

(4) The Council shall provide a forum to,

(

a) identify

priorities for actions to achieve the purposes of this Act;

(

b) identify,

in respect of projects to achieve the purposes of this Act, potential funding

measures and partnerships;

(

c) facilitate information sharing

to achieve the purposes of this Act; and

(

d) give

the Minister an opportunity to obtain input from individuals participating in

meetings of the Council through discussion of any matters relating to the

purposes of this Act, including,

(

i) the

establishment of targets under

Part IV,

(ii) the

criteria the Minister may use to select and prioritize the geographic areas for

which proposals for initiatives will be developed,

(iii) the

development of proposals for initiatives under

Part V,

(iv) the

development and implementation of initiatives under

Part VI, and

(

v) the

development and implementation of interjurisdictional agreements in respect of

the protection or restoration of the ecological health of the Great Lakes-St.

Lawrence River Basin.

Meeting

re particular watershed or geographic area

(5) The Minister may convene one or more

meetings of the Council for the purpose of focusing on one of the Great Lakes

watersheds in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin, or on a p

Document details

Collection	Ontario — Bills
Citation	Bill 66, 41-1
Type	bill
Volume / chapter	p41 s1 bill 66 html
Language	en
Format	html
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	dc985174f391c79a67f74f2d0b42691faecff0a5

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