Basics of co-operation in federal impact assessments
A key principle of the Impact Assessment Act (IAA) is co-operation with other jurisdictions, such as provinces, territories and Indigenous jurisdictions. Co-operation allows us to work together towards a single impact assessment process for major projects with each jurisdiction maintaining authority over their respective areas of jurisdiction.
By working together, we can reduce duplication and enhance the efficiency and certainty of the assessment process. The goal is "one project, one review" and this approach is critical to the success of Canada’s regulatory approach for major projects.
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Benefits of co-operation
Guided by the principle of "one project, one review," co-operation offers many benefits while respecting the jurisdictional responsibilities of each government. These include:
- Greater certainty around jurisdictional roles and responsibilities in assessments.
- Demonstrate a shared commitment to enhancing efficiency and reducing duplication.
- Provide transparency, predictability and certainty to proponents, Indigenous partners, investors and stakeholders on how the federal and provincial governments will work together on "one project, one review" while meeting the requirements of each jurisdiction.
- Facilitate the alignment and integration of permitting processes and requirements into the environmental or impact assessment process and improve coordination and integration of federal and provincial permitting processes.
- Enable the use of new and full flexibilities in the IAA to defer to, and to work with and through, provincial processes under the mechanisms described below, to achieve "one project, one review."
Co-operation approaches
From September 19, 2025 to November 7, 2025, we launched a comment period on a paper which outlined our proposed approach to working with provinces on the assessment of major projects through co-operation agreements and what could be included in agreements with provinces.
Co-operation agreements with provinces play an important role in:
- Setting out how we will work together
- Providing transparency, predictability and certainty for all involved in assessments
- Unlocking the new and full flexibility in the IAA to defer to, and to work with and through, provincial processes
- Improving permitting coordination
Visit Let's talk impact assessment to view the comments received to the consultation paper and other past provincial co-operation agreement consultations.
For a list of current agreements, consult Agreements related to assessments.