Summary#

Bill 27, the Resource Management and Safety Act, 2025, has received Royal Assent. It amends existing laws on wildland fires, oil and gas hazards, and surveyors, and creates the Geologic Carbon Storage Act, 2025. Its stated goals include improving wildland fire management, addressing resource hazards, and enabling carbon storage while protecting people and the environment.

• It renames the Forest Fires Prevention Act the Wildland Fire Management Act and expands officers’ powers to enter land, inspect, stop conveyances, investigate offences, and enforce fire rules. Some major new fire-plan and penalty tools start only on a date to be set.
• It requires permits for many outdoor fires during fire season and requires municipalities in fire regions—and other entities to be prescribed by regulation—to prepare and annually review fire management plans. The plan requirement is not yet in force based on the dates in the bill.
• The new carbon-storage law would require permits for covered research and carbon storage activities. A storage permit requires written municipal endorsement; the Minister must also be satisfied about safety, land and pore-space rights, impacts, and, in some cases, Indigenous consultation.
• The carbon-storage law allows the Crown to take pore-space rights by regulation, without owners’ consent, in specified circumstances. A tribunal may also join pore-space rights for a project if statutory conditions are met, including majority landowner consent and equitable compensation for non-consenting owners.
• The law creates a Carbon Storage Stewardship Fund. Permit holders and other people set by regulation must pay into it; money may fund certain Crown costs and liabilities after site closure.
• Other changes let the Minister act to address certain hazards from oil and gas works and recover the costs from operators or their security. Surveyor changes add limited and temporary licences and shift some qualification details to professional association by-laws.

What it means for you#

• Residents and people in wildland areas: During fire management, an officer may enter private land and direct others to help. A fire officer may also request people in a wildland area to provide their name, contact details, route and overnight locations, among other information. The bill gives warrant protection for entry into dwellings for inspections.
• People lighting outdoor fires: During fire season, starting or tending an outdoor fire generally requires a permit unless regulations set an exception. The Minister may extend fire season into parts of November–March. A fire permit may have written conditions.
• Municipalities and some businesses or other entities: Municipalities in fire regions must prepare, provide on request, and review a fire management plan each year once that provision starts. Other entities are covered only if regulations prescribe them and their activities or locations.
• Landowners and carbon-storage applicants: The law sets rules for permits, land access, and pore-space rights. A tribunal may authorize certain entry and use of land for monitoring, assessment, or hazard prevention, with compensation and other protections set in its order. The Act does not itself authorize drilling under that land-access order.
• Carbon-storage operators: They would face permit conditions, inspections, insurance requirements set by regulation, and possible orders to stop injection or close a site. After a closure certificate, the Crown may take on specified duties and liabilities and own the site’s wells and ancillary works.
• Surveyors and applicants: The changes allow limited and temporary licences and appeals of certain qualification decisions. The detailed academic, experience, and examination rules are to be set in by-laws.

Money#

No cost estimate is in the available material.

• The carbon-storage law requires payments into the Fund, but regulations must set who pays, how much, and when. The Fund may also receive a Treasury Board subsidy.
• The Fund may pay specified Crown expenses and liabilities after closure, and costs of administering the Fund. The bill does not estimate these amounts.
• The Minister may recover the cost of certain hazard-response work from an oil or gas operator or from security provided for the work.
• The bill authorizes new fire enforcement and plan duties, but gives no staffing or cost estimate. It also allows rates to be set for people or privately owned equipment summoned to help with fires.

What is unclear#

• The Geologic Carbon Storage Act comes into force only on a date set by order; no date is provided here. The Surveyors Act changes also await an order. The general wildland-fire changes are set for January 1, 2026, but several provisions—including fire plans and administrative penalties—also await an order. The supplied material does not confirm whether those orders have been made.
• Regulations still need to set key carbon-storage rules, including eligible areas, permitted repository types, fees, financial assurances, insurance, payment into the Fund, and possible compensation for pore-space rights taken by the Crown.
• The bill does not set detailed carbon permit timelines or a complete application and consultation process. It leaves many details to regulations; it requires Indigenous consultation when proposed activities may adversely affect established or credibly asserted rights.
• The bill text and explanatory note were supplied without the amended Acts as they stood before these changes. I could not verify all changes against current law or confirm how they overlap with existing programs.

Case for#

• The carbon-storage law sets permits, safety duties, inspections, closure rules, insurance, and a fund for certain Crown costs. A possible argument is that these rules create a route for permanent underground storage while addressing risks and long-term responsibility.
• The fire changes provide tools to restrict fires, investigate their causes, and require plans from municipalities and prescribed entities. Those tools could support preparation and response; the bill states this as a goal, not a guaranteed result.
• The oil and gas change gives the Minister a way to address hazards when an operator is in specified circumstances and recover costs from the operator or its security.

Case against#

• The carbon law lets the Crown take pore-space rights without consent, with compensation only if regulations provide for it. The bill does not itself guarantee a specific payment.
• The Crown may assume responsibilities for a site after issuing a closure certificate, and the Fund may pay some resulting costs. The bill does not show whether future payments will cover those liabilities.
• The Minister and officers receive broad powers, while some important standards and procedures depend on future regulations. For fire remediation and administrative penalties, the bill allows an order before a person is heard, followed by a review by the Minister whose decision is final under the Act.
• The fire law allows an officer to summon able adults to help control a fire, subject to stated exceptions. The bill lets regulations set pay and conditions, but the supplied material does not specify them.