2. Structure and content of this summary report

The Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA 1999) is a sizeable, complex Act that addresses a varied and large number of topics. In order to provide some structure and manageability to the process, the CEPA 1999 Scoping Paper focused on five broad themes, as follows: Effective Decision-Making; Timely Access To Information; Sound Science And Research; Performance Promotion; and, Education-Promoting Understanding. Each theme provided detailed background context, identified several issues and included several questions that commentators could address. The website allowed for electronic inputs/responses on the specific questions raised under each theme in the CEPA 1999 Scoping Paper. The website also allowed responders to raise any other matter with respect to CEPA 1999 and the Review process.

The summary of views presented in the following sections is organized in accordance with the questions raised under each of the five themes detailed in the CEPA 1999 Scoping Paper as most people responded in this way. Comments that did not address a specific question are summarized at the end of this report in the "General Comments" section. This Report strives to ensure that all of the key issues that were raised in the commentaries are presented fairly. However, "the details" that often accompanied a specific view, and examples used to illustrate these views are not presented in this Summary Report. Readers who commented are cautioned that the issues they raised are not reported verbatim. The views detailed in this Report are not attributed to any particular individual or organization. Readers requiring more context around each of the questions are encouraged to go to the CEPA 1999 Scoping Paper