Environmental Assessment as Planning and Disclosure Tool: Greenpeace Canada v. Canada (Attorney General)

In Greenpeace Canada v. Canada (Attorney General) (2014), the applicants successfully challenged the adequacy of the environmental assessment report prepared in relation to a proposed nuclear power plant. In assessing that report, the Federal Court described environmental assessment as an “evidence-based and democratically accountable” decision-making process. In this comment I suggest that this characterization represents the most significant – if perhaps also long overdue – development in Canadian environmental assessment law since the Supreme Court of Canada’s landmark decision in Friends of the Oldman River Society v. Canada (Minister of Transport) (1992). I also discuss some of the implications of this characterization, including the extent to which environmental effects must be considered and the proper approach to judicial review in this context.