Amendments to Physical Activities Regulations

Summary#

These final rules — the Regulations Amending the Physical Activities Regulations — remove a set of project types from the federal Project List used under the Impact Assessment Act. The changes were registered and came into force on September 3, 2026, so those project types are no longer automatically subject to IAA integrated impact-assessment panels and will instead be reviewed under other regimes (mainly the federal energy regulator).

What it does#

• Removes these project types from the Project List so they are no longer automatically designated under the Impact Assessment Act:
  • International and interprovincial pipelines
  • International and interprovincial electrical transmission lines
  • Offshore renewable energy projects that are regulated under the Canadian Energy Regulator Act
  • Oil and gas pipelines and facilities in national parks and protected areas that are regulated under the Canadian Energy Regulator Act
  • Oil and gas facilities that are functionally integrated into a federal work or undertaking and regulated under the Canadian Energy Regulator Act (for example, petroleum storage tied to a pipeline)
  • In situ oil sands extraction facilities with a bitumen capacity of 2 000 m3/day or more in provinces without provincial legal limits on oil-sands greenhouse-gas emissions
  • Fossil fuel-fired power generating facilities
• Changes some technical definitions used to decide when a project counts as “new” (for example, a revised definition of “new right of way”).
• Removes or replaces a few schedule entries and headings in the Physical Activities Regulations to reflect the deletions.
• Confirms these amendments came into force when registered.

Who's affected#

• Canada Energy Regulator (CER) — will lead reviews for many of the projects removed from the Project List.
• Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) — will see fewer projects go through IAA integrated panels.
• Project proponents in the energy and major infrastructure sectors:
  • pipeline companies
  • transmission-line developers
  • offshore renewable developers
  • oil-sands operators
  • fossil-fuel power developers
• Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous organizations, provinces and territories, and members of the public who take part in federal environmental reviews.
• The federal government (administration and cost-recovery arrangements) and provincial regulators.

If it is unclear who is affected for a particular case, the rules and thresholds in the amended regulations determine whether a specific project is covered.

Why it matters#

• It moves responsibility for assessing many pipelines, transmission lines and related projects from IAA integrated panels to the Canadian Energy Regulator under the Canadian Energy Regulator Act. The government says this creates a “one regulator” process that should be simpler and faster.
• The government expects fewer projects to enter the IAA process each year (from an estimated 10 to about 7–8), producing modest administrative savings. The analysis estimates an annualized administrative cost saving of $14,867, and about 846 hours saved by proponents per year (average wage used in the calculation: $42.83).
• Supporters (mainly industry) say this will reduce duplication and improve regulatory certainty. Critics and some Indigenous groups raise concerns about reduced use of independent IAA review panels, possible changes to public participation, and risks that Indigenous consultation and independent scrutiny could be weakened in practice.
• The government’s analysis says environmental protection and Indigenous consultation obligations remain under other federal and provincial regimes, and that net environmental effects are expected to be neutral. Stakeholders disagree about whether those safeguards will be equivalent in practice.