President's Response

Physical Activities

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation is proposing to construct and maintain a new highway located in the northwest Greater Toronto Area. As proposed, the Highway 413 Project (the Project) would be 59 kilometres in length and pass through the municipalities of Vaughan, Caledon, Brampton, and Halton Hills. It would connect highway 400 (between Kirby Road and King-Vaughan Road), to the highway 401/407 interchange area, located near the northern end of highway 403.

These physical activities are not prescribed by regulations made under paragraph 109(b) of the Impact Assessment Act (the IAA).

Delegation of Powers to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada

Under subsection 154(1) of the IAA as amended, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change (the Minister) may, subject to any terms and conditions that the Minister specifies, delegate to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) any powers, duties, or functions that the Minister is authorized to exercise or perform under the IAA. The Minister has delegated the powers under section 9 of the IAA to the President of IAAC.

Decision

I, Terence Hubbard, President of IAAC, have decided not to designate the Project pursuant to section 9 of the IAA.

Information Considered

In forming my response, I took into account the analysis prepared by IAAC in its Analysis Report.

Reasons

In making my decision to not designate the Project, I considered whether the carrying out of the Project may cause adverse effects within federal jurisdiction or direct or incidental adverse effects and concluded that the Project may cause these potential adverse effects. I then considered public concerns related to these effects; adverse impacts on the Aboriginal and treaty rights of Indigenous Peoples of Canada; and whether a means other than an impact assessment exists that would permit a jurisdiction to address the adverse effects within federal jurisdiction and the direct or incidental adverse effects.

I decided not to designate the Project for the following reasons:

• The Project must be carried out in compliance with applicable federal and provincial legislative mechanisms.
• The requirements under the following legislative mechanisms, and related consultations with potentially impacted Indigenous Peoples, provide a framework to address the aforementioned potential adverse effects and impacts that the Project may cause, and concerns raised by Indigenous Peoples and members of the public. These legislative mechanisms include:
  • federal legislation, including the Fisheries Act, the Species at Risk Act, the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994, the Migratory Birds Regulations, 2022, the Explosives Act, the Railway Safety Act, and the Canadian Navigable Waters Act;
  • provincial legislation, including the Highway 413 Act, 2024, Endangered Species Act, 2007, Ontario Heritage Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, 2002, and Ontario Water Resources Act; and,
• On April 15, 2024, the Governments of Canada and Ontario signed a Memorandum of Understanding and established a joint federal-provincial working group governed by a Terms of Reference. This working group will leverage collective expertise to protect the environment and ensure impacts to federally listed species at risk and their critical habitats are considered before the Project moves into the detailed design stage.