Registry Notice Types

Policies are programs, plans, or objectives, including guidelines or criteria, used by ministries to guide decision-making.

Acts are laws passed by the 103 Members of the Provincial Parliament at Queen's Park.

Regulations are lower forms of law and provide the details of broader Acts or statutes. They only need to be approved by the Premier and his cabinet, not the whole Legislature.

Instruments are permits, licenses, approvals, authorizations, directions or orders issued by a ministry under the authority given to it by law. The government uses instruments to control the actions of individual businesses and industries that could affect the environment. A proposal for an instrument includes a proposal to issue, amend or revoke an instrument.

There are 3 classes of instruments under the EBR, each with a different public participation requirement:

• Class I instruments: Notice of a proposal must be placed on the Registry for a minimum 30 day public comment period.
• Class II instruments: Notice of a proposal must be placed on the Registry for a minimum of 30 days, the minister must consider providing more than 30 days for public comment, and some other form of public notice must be given.
• Class III instruments: Notice of a proposal must be placed on the Registry and these proposals are subject to a public hearing. Third party appeal rights do not apply to Class III instruments.

Registry Notice Status

Proposal
A proposal is a notice that the ministry intends to do something environmentally significant and is seeking your comments. Proposal notices will give you a summary of the proposal; the location where you can get the detailed proposal; the contact name and address to send you comments to; and the deadline for having your comments considered.

Decision
When final decisions are made, the ministry is obliged to post the decision on the Registry. Decision notices tell you the number of comments the ministry received. the nature of the comments, and how the comments influenced the final decision. If you can formally challenge or appeal a recent decision, the decision notice will tell you how.

Exceptions
Some decisions are exempt from the EBR comment process. If ministries exempt a decision, they must explain why on the Registry. These notices are known as "exceptions." Ministries can exempt a decision for the following reasons:

• Emergencies: If a minister believes there is no time to wait for public comments because of imminent harm or serious risk of harm to the environment, a person, or property.
• Other Processes: If a minister believes the public has already had equivalent opportunity to participate in the environmentally significant aspects of a proposal, or if equivalent public participation is required under another Act, such as the Environmental Assessment Act.
• Statutory Decisions: If the minister believes that issuing, changing, or revoking an instrument is a step toward implementing what has already been approved through an equivalent process of public participation.
• Budget Proposals: If a proposal is part of a budget or economic statement presented to the Legislative Assembly.

Appeals
Appeals are challenges to ministry decisions on an instrument. If a decision can be appealed, the Registry notice will let you know. And if someone is appealing a ministry decision, the Registry will notify you and you may be invited to be involved.