Canadian Energy Regulator Act (S.C. 2019, c. 28, s. 10)

Marginal note:Confidentiality

61 The Commission or a designated officer may take any measures and make any order that the Commission or designated officer considers necessary to ensure the confidentiality of information that is contained in any order under this Act or that is likely to be disclosed in any proceedings under this Act if the Commission or designated officer is satisfied that

• (a) there is a real and substantial risk that disclosure of the information will pose a risk to the security of pipelines, abandoned pipelines, power lines, offshore renewable energy projects, including buildings, structures or systems — including computer or communication systems, or methods employed to protect them — and the need to prevent disclosure of the information outweighs the public interest in disclosure of orders and proceedings; or

• (b) there is a real and substantial risk that disclosure of the information will compromise the safety and well-being of persons or cause harm to property or the environment.

Marginal note:Confidentiality

62 The Commission or a designated officer may take any measures and make any orders that are necessary to ensure compliance with section 58 or any regulations referred in subsection 114(3).

Decisions and Orders

General

Marginal note:Reasons

• 63 (1) The Commission must issue written reasons for each decision or order it makes. A designated officer must do the same for each decision or order they make.

• Marginal note:Public availability

  (2) The Regulator must make the decisions and orders, and the reasons for them, publicly available.

• Marginal note:Non-application

  (3) This section does not apply to a decision or order that is made only in relation to the internal administrative affairs of the Regulator.

Marginal note:Enforcement of orders

• 64 (1) A decision or order of the Commission, a designated officer or an inspection officer may be made an order of the Federal Court or of a superior court of a province and may be enforced in the same manner as an order of that court as if it had been an order of that court on the date of the decision or order.

• Marginal note:Procedure

  (2) A decision or order of the Commission, a designated officer or an inspection officer may be made an order of a court in accordance with the usual practice and procedure of the court in such matters, if any, or by the filing with the registrar of the court of a copy of the decision certified by an employee of the Regulator who is authorized by the Chief Executive Officer to certify documents for the purposes of this section under the Regulator’s seal.

• Marginal note:Effect of revocation or amendment

  (3) If a decision or order of the Commission, a designated officer or an inspection officer that has been made an order of a court is rescinded or varied by a subsequent decision or order, the order of the court is vacated and the decision or order of the Commission, a designated officer or an inspection officer as varied may be made an order of the court in accordance with subsection (2).

Marginal note:Conditions

65 A decision or order made by the Commission, a designated officer or an inspection officer under this Act may include any conditions that the Commission, designated officer or inspection officer considers appropriate.

Marginal note:General or particular application

66 The Commission or a designated officer may, when making an order, giving a direction, imposing conditions or doing any other thing in relation to a person, do so either generally or in any particular case or class of cases.

Marginal note:Coming into force and cessation of effect — Commission

• 67 (1) The Commission may, in issuing, varying or transferring a document of authorization, or when making or varying an order,

  • (a) specify a day on which the document of authorization or order, or any part of it, comes into force or ceases to have effect; or

  • (b) impose conditions governing when the document of authorization or order, or any part of it, comes into force or ceases to have effect.

• Marginal note:Coming into force and cessation of effect — designated officer or inspection officer

  (2) A designated officer or inspection officer may, when making or varying an order,

  • (a) specify a day on which the order, or any part of it, comes into force or ceases to have effect; or

  • (b) impose conditions governing when the order, or any part of it, comes into force or ceases to have effect.

• Marginal note:Non-application

  (3) Subsection (1) does not apply to a certificate issued under Part 3.

• Marginal note:Interim orders

  (4) The Commission, a designated officer or inspection officer may, instead of making an order final in the first instance, make an interim order, and may reserve their decision pending further proceedings in connection with any matter.

Marginal note:Relief

• 68 (1) The Commission may make a decision or order that grants, in whole or in part, any application made to the Commission. The decision or order may also include — in addition to or in lieu of the relief applied for — any other relief that the Commission considers appropriate as if the application had been made for that other relief.

• Marginal note:Non-application

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to an application made under Part 3 for a certificate.

Reviews and Appeals

Marginal note:Power to review, vary or rescind — Commission

• 69 (1) The Commission may review, vary or rescind any decision or order it makes and, if applicable, may re-hear any application before deciding it.

• Marginal note:Power to vary or rescind — designated officer or inspection officer

  (2) A designated officer or inspection officer may vary or rescind any decision or order they make and, if applicable, may re-hear any application before deciding it.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) This section does not apply to a decision or order in relation to an operating licence or authorization to which section 382 or 383 applies or in relation to the approval of a development plan under section 5.1 of the Canada Oil and Gas Operations Act.

Marginal note:Decisions final

• 70 (1) Except as provided for in this Act, every decision or order of the Commission, a designated officer or an inspection officer is final and conclusive.

• Marginal note:Decision or order

  (2) Any minute or other record of the Commission, a designated officer or an inspection officer or any document issued by one of them, in the form of a decision or order, is considered for the purposes of this section to be a decision or order, as the case may be, of the Commission, the designated officer or the inspection officer.

Marginal note:Appeal to Commission

71 An appeal from a decision or order of a designated officer or an inspection officer may be brought before the Commission and the Commission may dismiss or allow the appeal and vary or rescind the decision or order.

Marginal note:Appeal to Federal Court of Appeal

• 72 (1) An appeal from a decision or order of the Commission on any question of law or of jurisdiction may be brought in the Federal Court of Appeal with the leave of that Court.

• Marginal note:Application for leave to appeal

  (2) Leave to appeal must be applied for within 30 days after the date of the decision or order appealed from or within any additional time that a judge of the Court grants in exceptional circumstances.

• Marginal note:Time limit for appeal

  (3) An appeal must be brought within 60 days after the day on which leave to appeal is granted.

• Marginal note:Argument by Regulator

  (4) The Regulator is entitled to be heard on an application for leave to appeal and at any stage of an appeal.

• Marginal note:Costs

  (5) In any appeal under this section, costs may not be awarded against any of the commissioners.

• Marginal note:Report not decision or order

  (6) For greater certainty, a report submitted by the Commission under section 183 or 184 — or under subsection 51(1) the Impact Assessment Act — is not a decision or order of the Commission for the purposes of this section and neither is any part of the report.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Marginal note:Alternative dispute resolution

• 73 (1) If all the parties to a dispute that is directly related to a matter under this Act consent, the Regulator must provide or cause to be provided an alternative dispute resolution process for the dispute.

• Marginal note:Results

  (2) The results of the alternative dispute resolution process are not binding.

• Marginal note:Use of results by Commission

  (3) The Commission may take the results of the alternative dispute resolution process into account when making a decision, order or recommendation and may refer to them in the decision, order or recommendation.

• Marginal note:Use of results by designated officer

  (4) A designated officer may take the results of the alternative dispute resolution process into account when making a decision or order and may refer to them in the decision or order.

• Marginal note:Public availability of results

  (5) The Regulator may make the results of the alternative dispute resolution process public with the consent of the parties.

Public Engagement

Marginal note:Public engagement

74 The Regulator must establish processes that the Regulator considers appropriate to engage meaningfully with the public — and, in particular, the Indigenous peoples of Canada and Indigenous organizations — when public hearings are held under section 52 or subsection 241(3).

Marginal note:Participant funding program

75 For the purposes of this Act, the Regulator must establish a participant funding program to facilitate the participation of the public — and, in particular, the Indigenous peoples of Canada and Indigenous organizations — in public hearings under section 52 or subsection 241(3) and any steps leading to those hearings.

Collaborative Processes and Ministerial Arrangements

Marginal note:Collaborative processes

76 The Regulator may enter into arrangements with any government or Indigenous organization to establish collaborative processes.

Marginal note:Ministerial arrangements

• 77 (1) If regulations are made under section 78, the Minister may, in accordance with those regulations, enter into arrangements with Indigenous governing bodies for carrying out the purposes of this Act and may authorize any Indigenous governing body with whom an arrangement is entered into to exercise the powers or perform the duties and functions under this Act that are specified in the arrangement.

• Marginal note:Publication

  (2) Within 30 days after the day on which the Minister enters into an arrangement, the Regulator must publish it on the Regulator’s website.

Marginal note:Regulations

78 The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting the Minister’s power to enter into arrangements under section 77, including regulations

• (a) respecting how they are to be entered into;

• (b) respecting the circumstances under which they may be entered into;

• (c) respecting their contents; and

• (d) varying or excluding any provision of this Act or a regulation made under it as that provision applies to the subject matter of the arrangement.

Marginal note:Inconsistencies

79 In the event of an inconsistency between an arrangement referred to in section 76 and an arrangement referred to in section 77, the arrangement referred to in section 77 prevails to the extent of the inconsistency.

Advice

Marginal note:Study and review

80 The Regulator must study and keep under review matters relating to

• (a) the exploration for, and the production, recovery, manufacture, processing, transmission, transportation, distribution, sale, purchase, lease, exchange and alienation of energy and sources of energy in and outside Canada; and

• (b) the safety and security of regulated facilities and abandoned facilities.