The act also recognizes the contribution of pollution prevention and the management and control of toxic substances and hazardous waste to reducing threats to Canada's ecosystems and biological diversity.
Section 93 of the act provides the authority to the federal government to make regulations to restrict and manage the Canadian List of Toxic Substances (LOTS).
[2] The act was originally enacted in 1988 and was designed to provide a systematic approach to assess and manage chemical substances in the environment that were not addressed under existing programs.
[3] In 1997 the Supreme Court of Canada adjudicated the case of R. v. Hydro-Québec, by which an attempt was made to enforce the CEPA in the matter of poly-chlorinated biphenyls as a large quantity of said substances had been dumped into a stream by the respondent.
Justices Gérard La Forest, Claire L'Heureux-Dubé, Charles Gonthier, Peter Cory and Beverley McLachlin held that "the environment is not, as such, a subject matter of legislation under the Constitution Act, 1867.
If a provision relating to the environment in pith and substance falls within the parameters of any power assigned to the body that enacted the legislation, then it is constitutionally valid."
[2] A useful case study for process of addition to the list is discovered by the travels of microplastic beads:[15] The end of the public input process occurred on March 10, 2016;[16] they were added to the LOTS on June 29; on November 5 proposed regulations on their uses were put forth for public comment; on June 14, 2017, final regulations were published; and on July 1, 2018, the manufacture and import of all toiletries that contain plastic microbeads were prohibited.
Viewed by the David Suzuki Foundation as "long overdue important progress",[29] Bill S-5 addresses some, but not all, of the 87 recommendations to strengthen CEPA made by a 2017 parliamentary review.
[30] The bill additionally highlights fracking and tailings ponds as particular areas of concern, granting the government more authority to request information on substances released from these processes.
[29] Bill S-5 also adds various accountability mechanisms within CEPA that were previously lacking, such as the creation of a two-year windows in which a potential toxic chemical or substance must be assessed.