2017 to 2018 Fees Report

© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, 2019.

This publication may be reproduced for personal or internal use without permission, provided the source is fully acknowledged. However, multiple copy reproduction of this publication in whole or in part for purposes of redistribution requires the prior written permission from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H3, or ceaa.information.acee@canada.ca.

Catalogue No.: En104-18E-PDF

ISSN: 2562-5160

This document has been issued in French under the title: Agence canadienne d’évaluation environnementale: Rapport sur les frais de 2017 à 2018.

Alternative formats may be requested by contacting: ceaa.information.acee@canada.ca.

This document is also available in Adobe's Portable Document Format [PDF - 65 KB].

Table of contents

Minister’s message

The Hon. Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister Responsible for the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency

On behalf of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, I am pleased to present the 2017 to 2018 Fees Report.

On June 22, 2017, the Service Fees Act received royal assent, thereby repealing the User Fees Act.

The Service Fees Act introduces a modern legislative framework that enables cost-effective delivery of services and, through enhanced reporting to Parliament, improved transparency and oversight. The Act provides for:

  • a streamlined approach to consultation and the approval of new or modified fees;
  • a requirement for services to have service standards and reporting against these standards, along with a policy to remit fees to fee payers when standards are not met;
  • an automatic annual fee adjustment by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to ensure that fees keep pace with inflation; and
  • annual detailed reporting to Parliament in order to increase transparency.

This 2017 to 2018 Fees Report is the first report to be prepared under the Service Fees Act. The report includes new information such as a detailed listing of all fees along with future year fee amounts. Additional fee information will be included starting next fiscal year, once the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency fully transitions to the Service Fees Act regime.

I welcome the increased transparency and oversight that the Service Fees Act ’s reporting regime embodies, and I am fully committed to transitioning the Agency to this modern framework.

______________________________________________________
The Honourable Catherine McKenna, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Environment and Climate Change and
Minister Responsible for the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency

General fees information

The tables that follow provide information on each category of fees, including:

  • the name of the fee category
  • the date that the fee (or fee category) was introduced and last amended (if applicable)
  • service standards
  • performance results against these standards
  • financial information regarding total costs, total revenues and remissions

In addition to the information presented by fee category, there is a summary of the financial information for all fees as well as a listing of fees under the Agency’s authority. This listing includes the existing fee dollar amounts and the adjusted dollar fee amount for a future year.

General and financial information by fee category

General Information

Fee category

Environmental assessment review panels

Fee-setting authority

Regulatory

Cost Recovery Regulations under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012Footnote 1 (CEAA 2012)

Year introduced

2012

Year last amended

2012

Service standard

The Agency will recover from project proponents the direct and actual costs incurred in exercising its responsibilities, and those of the members of the review panel for environmental assessments by review panel, in accordance with the Cost Recovery Regulations.

Cost recovery under CEAA 2012 applies to environmental assessments conducted by review panels. CEAA 2012 requires that environmental assessments by review panels must be completed within 24 months from the referral of the project to a review panel. CEAA 2012 also requires the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to establish timelines (which combined cannot exceed 24 months) for the review panel to be established following referral, the review panel to submit its report to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and for the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to issue a decision statement. The timeline may be extended by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change by up to 3 months. Extensions beyond 3 months may be granted by the Governor in Council.

Performance results

The Agency recovered or initiated the recovery of 100% of eligible panel review costs incurred within the 2017–18 reporting period.

100 % of the 9 environmental assessments by review panels underway during the 2017–18 reporting period were conducted in accordance with the time periods established or approved by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change or the Governor in Council.

Other information

Costs incurred late in the reporting period are expected to be recovered during the next fiscal year. The Agency operates in a continuously changing environment impacted by outside factors, such as the economy and changes to commodity prices that can vary the number, types and locations of projects subject to environmental assessment by review panels. This results in a limited ability to accurately predict the pace and levels of environmental assessments by review panels.

Financial Information (dollars)
2016–17 Revenue 2017–18 Revenue 2017–18 Cost* 2017–18 Remissions

637,943

1,470,408

2,410,133

Not applicable

* The amount includes direct and indirect costs, where such costs are identifiable and material.

A remission is a partial or full return of a fee paid.

Fee category

Fees charged for the processing of access requests filed under the Access to Information Act (ATIA)

Fee-setting authority

Other Products and Services

Access to Information ActFootnote 2, subsection 11(1) and paragraph 7(1)(a); Access to Information Regulations

Year introduced

1983

Year last amended

2013

Service standard

A response is to be provided within 30 days following receipt of request; the response time may be extended pursuant to section 9 of the ATIA. A notice of extension must be sent within 30 days after receipt of the request.

The ATIA provides further details: http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/A-1/.

Performance results

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency received 28 requests in 2017–18.

An additional 6 requests were brought forward from the 2016–17 fiscal year, making a total of 34 active requests. Of those 34 active requests, 32 were completed within the reporting period and 2 were carried forward to the 2018–19 fiscal year.

100 % of requests processed in 2017–18 were completed within legislated timeframes. The number of pages processed for requests completed in 2017–18 increased over the previous year (from approximately 21,398 pages to approximately 33,481 pages).

Financial Information (dollars)
2016–17 Revenue 2017–18 Revenue 2017–18 Cost* 2017–18 Remissions

180

140

274,704

20

* The amount includes direct and indirect costs, where such costs are identifiable and material.

A remission is a partial or full return of a fee paid.

Financial totals for all fee categories

Total revenues, cost and remissions (dollars)
2016–17 Total revenue 2017–18 Total revenue 2017–18 Total cost 2017–18 Total remissions

638,123

1,470,548

2,684,837

20

Note: the totals are the sums of the revenues, costs and remissions reported for all fee categories in the “Financial information” tables.

Fees under the Agency’s authority

Costs recovered under Cost Recovery Regulations and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 are on a cost recovery basis rather than a fee structure.

Fees charged under the Access to Information Act are not under departmental authority and are excluded.

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