Rachel Aiello
CTV NEWS

OTTAWA – MPs return to Parliament Hill Monday, giving them four weeks until the House of Commons likely adjourns for the final time before the election campaign begins.

After members of Parliament decamp to their ridings for the summer BBQ circuit and pre-election campaigning, senators are scheduled to stay in town an extra week to wrap up whatever legislation they can. All of this timing of course, is pending any unforeseen need to reconvene Parliament, -- say, over needing to ratify CUSMA.

All told, this leaves just 24 sitting days to pass whatever legislation remains. Any bills not passed will die when Parliament adjourns and would have to be re-tabled if a future government wanted to still pursue them.

Here's where all active outstanding pieces of government legislation stand. Given the flow of bills, those in the Senate are closest to passage, as are the bills that have been sent back to the House with Senate amendments.

​In the House:

Bills at second reading

• Bill C-87, the Poverty Reduction Act. This was tabled by Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Jean-Yves Duclos in November 2018.
• Bill C-98, which amends the RCMP Act and CBSA Act to set up a new oversight body for the two agencies. It was tabled by Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale in May.

Bills being studied at committee

• Bill C-88, which makes changes related to regional resource protections in the Mackenzie Valley in the Northwest Territories. It was tabled by Intergovernmental and Northern Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc in November 2018 and is currently before the House Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee.
• Bill C-92, which seeks to assert that Indigenous people have jurisdiction over child and family services in their communities. It was tabled by Indigenous Services Minister Seamus O'Regan in May and has been fast-tracked and is currently also before the House Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee. It is being pre-studied in the Senate as well, so expect this bill to keep moving quickly.
• Bill C-93, the pot pardons legislation. Tabled by Goodale in May, it is currently before the House Public Safety and National Security Committee. Its first meeting on the legislation is scheduled for next week.
• Bill C-97, the Budget Implementation Act, 2019. This omnibus bill makes all sorts of changes tied into the federal budget, and also makes immigration law and housing rights changes. It was tabled by Finance Minister Bill Morneau in April and is being studied by the House Finance Committee, as well as the Senate National Finance Committee. It's expected to pass, as all budget bills do.

Bills awaiting consideration of Senate amendments

• Bill C-58, the legislation that changes Canada's Access to Information Law in several ways, including giving the new information commissioner new authorities. Though it has largely been panned as a bad bill that will not improve an already troubled freedom of information system. It was first ushered in under the Treasury Board portfolio in June 2017. The Senate amended it considerably and has sent it back to the House.
• Bill C-81, the Accessible Canada Act, from Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility Minister Carla Qualtrough. It makes sweeping accessibility law changesand was tabled in 2018. The minister tweeted this week that she’ll be accepting all Senate changes, meaning it is set to pass soon.

What about bills at first reading?

There are 14 other government bills still in the House, but they all are at first reading. All but one of them have been stalled since 2017. Some of this legislation was folded into other bills that have since advanced, so don’t expect to see these bills move.

The one exception is the recently tabled Bill C-94, which allows for payments from federal coffers to be made in relation to infrastructure, the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service, and to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. This was tabled by Finance Minister Bill Morneau in March, and still has a chance to move forward as it doesn't appear to be a contentious or dense proposal. The bill is six pages long.

There are also no bills currently at report stage or third reading in the House, though expect that to change as soon as the aforementioned bills get moving next week.

In the Senate:

Bills at second reading:

• Bill C-84, which mends the Criminal Code to crack down on bestiality and animal fighting offences. It was tabled by then-justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould in 2018 and just passed into the Senate earlier this month.
• Bill C-91, the Indigenous Languages Act, which is aimed at reviving Indigenous languages and would create a new Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages. It was tabled in February by Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism Minister Pablo Rodriguez and also just passed into the upper chamber recently.

Bills being studied at committee:

• Bill C-48, the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act would introduce a federal ban on tanker traffic off of the B.C. north coast. The Senate Committee on Transport and Communications just recommended it not be proceeded with at all. Now it'll be on the Senate as a whole to decide whether to take that advice and kill the government bill, which was first tabled by Transport Minister Marc Garneau in 2017.
• Bill C-77, which introduces a victims' bill of rights for the military justice system. From Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, it was tabled in 2018 and is currently before the Senate National Security and Defence Committee, though the committee has only held one meeting on it so far.
• Bill C-68, the legislation that makes changes to the Fisheries Act related to make clear the minister’s authority and strengthen the powers for enforcement of the law. It was tabled under the Fisheries, Oceans, and Canadian Coast Guard portfolio in February 2018, and has been studied the last two months in the Senate Fisheries and Oceans Committee. 
• Bill C-78, which updates family and divorce laws, in an attempt to have more disputes settled out of court, and amends the language related to custody. It’s a justice proposal first tabled in 2018, and it’s currently before the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee. The committee has just come out of back-to-back studies of other government bills, so its look into this one has yet to begin.
• Bill C-69, which makes a number of considerable changes to environmental assessments and regulations. The Senate Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources Committee has suggested dozens of amendments and it will now be on the whole Senate to determine how it wants to handle the contentious proposal that was first tabled in February 2018.
• Bill C-82, the Multilateral Instrument in Respect of Tax Conventions Act. It's a Morneau initiative first tabled in June 2018. The Senate Foreign Affairs and International Trade Committee has yet to begin studying it.
• Bill C-75, an omnibus piece of legislation that aims to reform a number of areas of Canada's criminal justice system and address court backlogs. It was tabled in March 2018 and has been studied intensely at the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee over this month. This study could wrap soon, and it is yet to be seen whether it'll be amended as it was in the House.
• Bill C-83, which proposes to overhaul how federal inmates are separated from the general prison population, eliminating solitary confinement as it is known. It was tabled in October 2018 and is currently getting studied by the Senate Social Affairs, Science and Technology Committee.

Bills at report stage:

• Bill C-59, the National Security Act, which is a wide-spanning piece of legislation that proposes national security and oversight reforms. The Senate National Security and Defence Committee has reported it back with amendments. The Senate will now deliberate if it will accept the proposed changes.

Bills at third reading:

• Bill C-71, the gun control bill that includes various measures that tightens the rules around gun ownership. It was amended considerably by the Senate National Security and Defence Committee but the Senate as a whole rejected those amendments so the bill as it was, is now poised to pass and move on to Royal Assent.

Bills passed so far:Since forming government, the Liberals have managed to pass 68 pieces of government legislation, including major changes to Canada's physician-assisted dying regime, cannabis legalization, an anti-harassment policy for federal workers, and six budget implementation bills. They’ve been able to do this in part with the use of time allocation, a procedural tool that limits debates. It’s a tactic that is commonly used, but is always railed against by the opposition.
​
On top of these bills, there are dozens of other private member’s bills left on the agenda, including a proposal to end the captivity of whales and dolphins, legislation to create a new statutory holiday focused on reconciliation with Indigenous Canadians, and a bill that would require comprehensive training for judges on sexual assault. Here’s our latest rundown of the private member’s bills to watch.

READ MORE: https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/with-a-few-weeks-left-in-the-session-here-s-what-s-left-to-pass-1.4434812

John Paul Tasker 
CBC News

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and the leaders of the three other provincial parties are offering an olive branch to the Trudeau government on C-69, saying they're now prepared to accept the controversial overhaul of Canada's environmental assessment process — as long as the Senate's amendments are part of it.

In a joint letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's point man in the Senate, Peter Harder, the multipartisan group asks the government to accept the changes to Bill C-69 — including amendments long demanded by oil and gas lobbyists — to avoid a constitutional fight over federal-provincial jurisdiction in natural resources.

"While we remain concerned about the overall spirit of Bill C-69, we believe that with the inclusion of all these amendments, that the bill would be acceptable to the interests of Albertans," reads the letter, signed by Kenney, NDP Leader Rachel Notley, Alberta Party Leader Stephen Mandel and David Khan, the leader of the Alberta Liberal Party.

The Senate's energy committee last week passed more than 180 amendments that would, among other things, limit the environment minister's ability to interfere in the regulatory process and stop and start project timelines.

The committee also passed amendments to curb public participation in the project review process to ensure more timely decisions, and backed changes that would solidify the role of the offshore petroleum boards in the approvals process.

"We call upon the entire Senate to likewise respect the deliberations of the standing committee ... and vote in favour of the entirety of this amendment package," the leaders said.

The letter signals a tonal shift for Alberta's leaders. Kenney has long called for the Senate to kill the bill outright, while Notley described the Liberal proposals as a "stampede of stupid."

The letter, obtained by CBC News, says Bill C-69 "in its unamended form would seriously threaten Alberta's exclusive provincial jurisdiction over the regulation of the production of non-renewable natural resources."

The leaders also asked Harder to accept the Senate transport committee's deadlock over C-48, the northern B.C. oil tanker ban bill. The committee's vote on whether to recommend the bill for passage last week ended in a tie, meaning the recommendation failed.

Reached by phone Thursday, Harder told CBC News that he believes the Senate should pass the bill as amended by the committee and send it back to the House of Commons, where the government can decide which amendments it's willing to accept.

That's a change in approach for Harder; his lieutenant, government liaison Sen. Grant Mitchell, pushed back against a number of proposed amendments during the committee process, saying they do not square with the government's goal of dramatically reworking the assessments process.

"I always say I'm not just the government's representative in the Senate. I'm the Senate's representative to the government," Harder said.

"Where we're at now, after the Senate committee deliberations, is a large number of amendments, some of which are not necessarily in harmony with others. My view is it would be best for us, as a Senate, to act reasonably quickly and send the bill back to the House of Commons for the government to put forward which of the amendments it would agree to. And then that would come back to the Senate."

(After legislation is amended by the Senate, the amended version must also pass the Commons before it becomes law.)

Environmental groups have slammed the Senate's amendments as a cut-and-paste job lifted from material submitted by oil industry lobbyists. In fact, the wording of many of the amendments is identical to what was asked for by energy lobby groups, including the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

Regarding C-48, Harder said Trudeau promised a similar tanker ban during the last federal election and a campaign promise should be respected by the unelected upper house.

"We are a revising chamber, not a defeating chamber," Harder said.

Only days after he was elected premier in Alberta's April election, Kenney appeared before the Senate's energy committee, where he urged senators to make major changes to Bill C-69. He said Ottawa's attempt to rewrite existing assessment legislation, do away with the National Energy Board and bolster Indigenous participation in the approvals process — among many other changes to the natural resources regime — would create uncertainty for an industry that is facing constrained pipeline capacity and cratering commodity prices.

"There is a growing crisis of national unity in Alberta which would be exacerbated by the adoption of this bill and other policies like it," Kenney said. "If this bill proceeds, it will be a message to the people of Alberta that their federal government doesn't care about a devastating period of economic adversity in our province."
​
Kenney also said he was prepared to launch a constitutional legal challenge against the legislation if it was passed by the Senate as written, saying Ottawa is unfairly intruding on an area of provincial jurisdiction.

READ MORE: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tasker-kenney-bill-c69-amendments-1.5147516

By MIA RABSON
The Canadian Press

OTTAWA—The federal government’s promised overhaul of environmental evaluations for energy projects is poised for a major Senate surgery, but the upper chamber must race to pass the bill before an election guillotine sends it to the shredder.

Bill C-69, the Impact Assessment Act, fulfils a Liberal campaign promise to change how major energy projects get reviewed for their environmental, social and economic effects, with the aim of speeding up reviews and making their criteria clearer.

Introduced in February 2018, the House of Commons already made 136 amendments before sending it to the Senate.

Now it’s before the Senate energy committee, many members of which are vowing further changes.

Those amendments won’t be proposed for several more weeks after the committee agreed Thursday to take its study on a nine-city tour. It has promised to finish its report to the full Senate no later than May 9.

That leaves less than two months for the Senate to finish third reading — where senators can propose substantial changes to a bill — and the government to determine how many of the expected amendments it will accept.

If the bill does not get royal assent this spring, it will fall to the cutting room floor because any bills on the order paper go back to square one after the election, no matter whether the Liberals win again.

Sen. Grant Mitchell, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, said it won’t be easy but “absolutely it will get done.”

He said it was made clear to him that while industry and some provincial governments have significant concerns with the bill, they see its failure as a worse option.

Tim McMillan, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, told The Canadian Press he doesn’t like the bill as-is, but killing it would tear up years of work and not provide any more certainty to his industry.

Mitchell says he is open to amendments, as are the prime minister and Environment Minister Catherine McKenna.

“We welcome the Senate taking a serious look at this legislation, and we have consistently said that we are open to amendments put forward by the Senate, should they strengthen and improve the bill,” McKenna said in a written statement Friday.

The Senate is receiving intense pressure on this legislation.

This week alone, the premiers of Alberta and Newfoundland and the energy ministers of Saskatchewan and Ontario presented to the committee. Senators have also received nearly 50,000 letters urging them to either kill the bill or agree to major changes on everything from review timelines to who can be heard during a specific review.

Independent and Conservative senators are indicating a desire for some pretty significant changes.

Sen. Yuen Pau Woo, head of the Independent Senators Group, said the legislation affects other types of projects, including electricity transmission lines, hydroelectric dams and even airports.

“There’s a lot of work to be done,” he said.

The legislation lifts limits the former Conservative government placed on who can get standing to be heard during an assessment hearing, but many groups have said putting no limits on standing goes too far. Woo said he wants some changes made on that topic.

He also wants to see changes made to the level of discretion given to cabinet ministers who, as worded, can halt the review process for a time, upending the bill’s assertion of hard timelines for how long the review can take.

Conservative Sen. Dennis Patterson said provincial governments have raised legitimate concerns the bill oversteps established provincial jurisdiction and introduces new factors on which projects will be judged, such as climate change and gender. Patterson said some of those areas are so vaguely defined it just invites lawyers to challenge any decisions.
​
He is also concerned there isn’t enough in the bill to require direct and indirect economic benefits to be taken into account.

READ MORE: https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2019/03/01/new-impact-assessment-bill-for-energy-projects-to-get-major-changes-in-senate.html 

By PETER MAZEREEUW      
Bill C-69, a bugaboo for conservative politicians and a target for environmentalists, is in for a long, rough ride in the Senate.

LARRY MACDOUGAL/THE CANADIAN PRESS
Speakers at another pro-pipeline rally in Alberta continued their attacks on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday, saying if leaders in Ottawa don’t hear their message now, they will when a planned convoy arrives there in 2019.

Chad Miller with the group Oilfield Dads told the crowd gathered in Rocky Mountain House that the province is suffering its “worst recession turned depression” in a generation owing to weakened oil prices, exacerbated by a lack of pipeline capacity.

“Even those that put away for the rainy days and then some have had to use their savings, and more, to try to weather this never-ending hard times scenario,” Mr. Miller said.

Numerous rallies and truck convoys have been held across Alberta and Saskatchewan in recent weeks to protest against federal actions that critics say will make building pipelines more difficult. Those include Bill C-69 to revamp the National Energy Board and Bill C-48, which would ban oil tanker traffic on British Columbia’s northern coast.

A convoy in Medicine Hat, Alta., last weekend attracted 650 vehicles, according to police, and groups are planning one in February that will travel from Western Canada to Ottawa.

“Today, I say to Ottawa, can you hear us yet?” Mr. Miller asked the crowd during Saturday’s rally.

“Don’t worry, you’ll see us in February when we convoy to Ottawa!”

A truck convoy was also held Saturday in Lloydminster, which straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary.

Earlier this month, the federal government announced it would spend $1.6-billion to help energy companies struggling because of plunging oil prices.

But Jason Nixon, who represents Rocky Mountain House in the provincial legislature, said what Alberta really wants is pipelines.

​“Trudeau, we don’t want your money. We want you to get out of the way,” Mr. Nixon said to the crowd in Rocky Mountain House.

The groups Rally 4 Resources and Canada Action say in a Facebook event post that the convoy to Ottawa is intended to end Feb. 20 on Parliament Hill. The post says letters voicing support for the industry, as well as individual and family photos, will be delivered to the Senate.

The page stresses that the event is not connected to the yellow vest campaign, which also advocates for pipelines but is associated with opposition to Canada signing the United Nations migration pact.

“To be clear, we take issue with bad policies put forward by Justin Trudeau’s government, but we do not favour any political party. This movement is about supporting our families,” the Facebook post states.

Rhianna Schmunk · CBC News · Posted: Oct 02, 2018 1:18 AM PT | Last Updated: October 2

LNG Canada chief executive says it will move 'immediately' into construction

Construction is going ahead on a massive, $40-billion liquefied natural gas project in northern B.C., hours after five primary investors from five different countries granted their approval for the joint venture.

The LNG Canada project will see a pipeline carrying natural gas from Dawson Creek in northeastern B.C. to a new processing plant on the coast in Kitimat. There, the gas would be liquefied for overseas export.

• Just the FAQs on LNG Canada

The partners came to their decision at 9:18 p.m. PT on Monday. They are:

• Royal Dutch Shell.
• Mitsubishi Corp.
• The Malaysian-owned Petronas.
• PetroChina Co.
• Korean Gas Corp.

On Tuesday, LNG Canada CEO Andy Calitz said the company is "immediately, today, moving into construction" on the pipeline and plant.

He said project has already obtained all the necessary approvals to break ground, including from the National Energy Board, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, BC Hydro as well as 25 First Nations.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the announcement represents the single largest private sector investment in Canadian history.

"Today is a good day," he said Tuesday.

Political, First Nations leaders reactTrudeau, B.C. Premier John Horgan and other leaders held a news conference to make the official project announcement in Vancouver on Tuesday morning.

"It's certainly a great day for northern British Columbia," Horgan said.

"I can't tell you how proud I am. I can't stop smiling."

The B.C. ministries of Finance and Energy have estimated the project would generate $22 billion in direct government revenue over the next 40 years.

The project is also expected to employ as many as 10,000 people in its construction and up to 950 in full-time jobs.

The Kitimat plant will be within the traditional territory of the Haisla Nation. Trudeau thanked that nation, as well as others in B.C., for their "leadership" in getting the project approved.

Crystal Smith, chief councillor of the Haisla Nation, was emotional at Tuesday morning's announcement.

"On behalf of our entire nation, we extend our gratitude … for the investment being made in Haisla territory," she said.

"Haisla … history is unfolding before our eyes. We are having a share and we are having our say."

Environmental factorsTo help make the project happen, Horgan's government offered a break on the carbon tax as well as an exemption on provincial sales tax related to construction costs.

According to information provided by the province, LNG Canada would be the least greenhouse gas-intensive large LNG facility in the world.

B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver was skeptical the project would mesh with the province's climate plan.

Under the NDP and Greens' Confidence and Supply Agreement (CASA), the parties committed to reducing greenhouse gases by 40 per cent by 2030 and 80 per cent by 2050.

In a statement, Weaver called the LNG announcement a "profound disappointment," saying his party would not support the LNG legislation that would be required.
Horgan's minority NDP government is supported in the legislature by the B.C. Green Party​.

• Job creation and lingering activism: political experts weigh in on LNG tax breaks

• LNG, referendum set to dominate B.C. fall session
  ​

History of LNG in B.C.On Tuesday, Horgan acknowledged that the first discussions on LNG in B.C. began with a pitch for a plant in Prince Rupert in 1982.

He also acknowledged the previous B.C. Liberal government, specifically former minister Rich Coleman, for "tirelessly" lobbying for the project from 2011 onward.

In a Facebook post, Christy Clark, premier from 2011 to 2017 who helped lead the charge for the project, said Tuesday was "the single best day of my professional life."
"This is an achievement for our whole country," she wrote.

• Kitimat house prices starting to soar with LNG anticipation

Since her election defeat in 2017, Clark has retired from politics and joined the law firm Bennett Jones as a senior adviser in Vancouver. She has also since been appointed to the board of directors for Shaw Communications.

With files from The Canadian Press.

First Session, Forty-second Parliament,
64-65-66-67 Elizabeth II, 2015-2016-2017-2018

HOUSE OF COMMONS OF CANADA

​AS PASSED
BY THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
JUNE 20, 2018

RECOMMENDATION

Her Excellency the Governor General recommends to the House of Commons the appropriation of public revenue under the circumstances, in the manner and for the purposes set out in a measure entitled “An Act to enact the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, to amend the Navigation Protection Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts”.

SUMMARY
Part 1 enacts the Impact Assessment Act and repeals the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012. Among other things, the Impact Assessment Act

(a) names the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada as the authority responsible for impact assessments;

(b) provides for a process for assessing the environmental, health, social and economic effects of designated projects with a view to preventing certain adverse effects and fostering sustainability;

(c) prohibits proponents, subject to certain conditions, from carrying out a designated project if the designated project is likely to cause certain environmental, health, social or economic effects, unless the Minister of the Environment or Governor in Council determines that those effects are in the public interest, taking into account the impacts on the rights of the Indigenous peoples of Canada, all effects that may be caused by the carrying out of the project, the extent to which the project contributes to sustainability and other factors;

(d) establishes a planning phase for a possible impact assessment of a designated project, which includes requirements to cooperate with and consult certain persons and entities and requirements with respect to public participation;

(e) authorizes the Minister to refer an impact assessment of a designated project to a review panel if he or she considers it in the public interest to do so, and requires that an impact assessment be referred to a review panel if the designated project includes physical activities that are regulated under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act, the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation Act and the Canada–Newfoundland and Labrador Atlantic Accord Implementation Act;

(f) establishes time limits with respect to the planning phase, to impact assessments and to certain decisions, in order to ensure that impact assessments are conducted in a timely manner;

(g) provides for public participation and for funding to allow the public to participate in a meaningful manner;

(h) sets out the factors to be taken into account in conducting an impact assessment, including the impacts on the rights of the Indigenous peoples of Canada;

(i) provides for cooperation with certain jurisdictions, including Indigenous governing bodies, through the delegation of any part of an impact assessment, the joint establishment of a review panel or the substitution of another process for the impact assessment;

(j) provides for transparency in decision-making by requiring that the scientific and other information taken into account in an impact assessment, as well as the reasons for decisions, be made available to the public through a registry that is accessible via the Internet;

(k) provides that the Minister may set conditions, including with respect to mitigation measures, that must be implemented by the proponent of a designated project;

(l) provides for the assessment of cumulative effects of existing or future activities in a specific region through regional assessments and of federal policies, plans and programs, and of issues, that are relevant to the impact assessment of designated projects through strategic assessments; and

(m) sets out requirements for an assessment of environmental effects of non-designated projects that are on federal lands or that are to be carried out outside Canada.

Part 2 enacts the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, which establishes the Canadian Energy Regulator and sets out its composition, mandate and powers. The role of the Regulator is to regulate the exploitation, development and transportation of energy within Parliament’s jurisdiction.

The Canadian Energy Regulator Act, among other things,

(a) provides for the establishment of a Commission that is responsible for the adjudicative functions of the Regulator;

(b) ensures the safety and security of persons, energy facilities and abandoned facilities and the protection of property and the environment;

(c) provides for the regulation of pipelines, abandoned pipelines, and traffic, tolls and tariffs relating to the transmission of oil or gas through pipelines;

(d) provides for the regulation of international power lines and certain interprovincial power lines;

(e) provides for the regulation of renewable energy projects and power lines in Canada’s offshore;

(f) provides for the regulation of access to lands;

(g) provides for the regulation of the exportation of oil, gas and electricity and the interprovincial oil and gas trade; and

(h) sets out the process the Commission must follow before making, amending or revoking a declaration of a significant discovery or a commercial discovery under the Canada Oil and Gas Operations Act and the process for appealing a decision made by the Chief Conservation Officer or the Chief Safety Officer under that Act.

Part 2 also repeals the National Energy Board Act.

Part 3 amends the Navigation Protection Act to, among other things,

(a) rename it the Canadian Navigable Waters Act;

(b) provide a comprehensive definition of navigable water;

(c) require that, when making a decision under that Act, the Minister must consider any adverse effects that the decision may have on the rights of the Indigenous peoples of Canada;

(d) require that an owner apply for an approval for a major work in any navigable water;

(e)  set out the factors that the Minister must consider when deciding whether to issue an approval;

(f) provide a process for addressing navigation-related concerns when an owner proposes to carry out a work in navigable waters that are not listed in the schedule;

(g) provide the Minister with powers to address obstructions in any navigable water;

(h) amend the criteria and process for adding a reference to a navigable water to the schedule;

(i) require that the Minister establish a registry; and
​
(j) provide for new measures for the administration and enforcement of the Act.
Part 4 makes consequential amendments to Acts of Parliament and regulations.