Published plans and annual reports 2025–2026: Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks

Ministry overview

Ministry’s vision

The vision of the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks is an Ontario with clean and safe air, land and water that leads to healthier communities and economic prosperity.

Purpose and priorities

The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks is the lead ministry responsible for restoring, protecting and enhancing the environment to ensure public health and environmental quality.

The ministry sets clear policies, standards, rules and regulations to protect the environment and encourage conservation activities. Along with monitoring the environment and enforcing these rules, the ministry looks for innovative approaches to complement legislation and regulations.

Ministry divisions and programs

The ministry is comprised of seven (7) specialized divisions that develop and implement environmental legislation, regulations, standards, policies, guidelines, and programs.

Climate Change and Resiliency Division

This division leads the government’s efforts to lower greenhouse gas emissions to meet our 2030 target and to help communities prepare for the impacts of climate change.

We will:

• continue to implement the Emissions Performance Standards (EPS) program. The EPS program will reduce industrial emissions while saving Ontario over $1 billion compared to the federal regulation it replaced.
• work with industry to identify and support transformational projects that reduce emissions and increase competitiveness using proceeds generated by the EPS program.
• continue to work with communities around the Great Lakes to promote the use of adaptive management tools and to identify best practices to enhance their resilience to climate change impacts, as well as increase their ability to implement these tools.
• build on the province’s Climate Change Impact Assessment and support ongoing work to better understand where and how Ontario is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Land and Water Division

This division protects the diversity of resources in Ontario, including species at risk, provincial parks and conservation reserves, Ontario’s drinking water sources, the Great Lakes and inland waters, supporting conservation efforts and preserving Ontario’s rich biodiversity.

We will:

• continue to invest in Ontario Parks infrastructure to help meet growing demand and expand recreational opportunities closer to home through the investment of $59 million over three years to build approximately 300 new campsites and electrify approximately 800 existing campsites at a number of provincial parks across the province.
• invest $19 million over three years to develop Ontario’s first Urban Provincial Park in the Township of Uxbridge.
• create the first new full-service, operating provincial park in over 40 years by taking steps to turn Bigwind Lake Provincial Park into an operating park.
• continue the Greenlands Conservation Partnership program, with an additional $20 million over four years (2024-2028). The investment will allow conservation partners to raise matching private‐sector contributions to secure new, privately-owned natural areas, such as wetlands, grasslands and forests, and ensure they are protected and managed for the future.
• promote biodiversity conservation, outdoor recreation and economic development through tourism across the province through the expansion of Ontario’s system of protected areas and supporting the Town of Wasaga Beach in its tourism revitalization initiatives.
• continue to support non-profit organizations, Indigenous communities and other organizations that are working to help conserve species at risk and their habitat through local projects through the proposed new Species Conservation Program, which would improve upon and replace the Species at Risk Stewardship Program. Under the new program, the government intends to increase investment in supporting voluntary activities that will assist in the protection and conservation of species by more than four times, up to $20 million per year.
• continue to invest nearly $35 million (between 2022 and 2027) to support on-the-ground habitat restoration, protection and other conservation activities for boreal caribou in Ontario, as part of the implementation of the Canada-Ontario Conservation Agreement.
• develop an online system to modernize the proposed registration-first approach under the proposed new Species Conservation Act.
• invest $9 million over two years (2025-26 to 2026-27) to support projects funded through the Wetlands Conservation Partner Program with new and ongoing partners.
• continue to implement the 2021 Canada-Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health (COA) with a focus on building climate resilience, managing nutrients, reducing plastic pollution and excess road salt, improving wastewater and stormwater management, strengthening First Nations and Métis engagement in implementation, and completing all environmental clean-up actions in six degraded Areas of Concern.
• continue to support and fund source protection authorities to enable them to deliver on their responsibilities under the Clean Water Act, 2006, to protect local sources of drinking water from contamination and depletion and ensure source protection plans are implemented and maintained.
• continue to implement the Great Lakes Local Action Fund, enabling community-based actions to help protect the Great Lakes.
• continue to implement the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan by funding actions on the ground through partnerships, research and monitoring environmental indicators to track change over time and share information to support evidence-based decision making.
• advance the Lake Simcoe phosphorous reduction project, which will help reduce phosphorus discharges from the Holland River into Lake Simcoe, by transferring funds to the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury and beginning the design and engineering work.
• launch a $3-million funding program for farmers in the Holland Marsh area to support the implementation of efficient produce washwater treatment technologies that will help reduce the amount of phosphorus that enters the Lake Simcoe watershed and reuse it for farming.
• provide $7 million over one year (2025-26) in funding to support implementation of resilient infrastructure solutions for the stormwater system at the Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto.

Drinking Water and Environmental Compliance Division

This division works to protect and support clean air, land and water, including safe drinking water, through provincial oversight and the delivery of compliance and enforcement programs.

We are working to strengthen the province’s compliance and enforcement program to hold polluters accountable and ensure compliance with environmental laws.

We will:

• continue to plan and carry out risk-based compliance and enforcement programs to protect the environment and human health, including taking action to address non-compliance and providing transparency through mandatory public reporting.
• continue work on compliance initiatives, including strategic expansion of administrative penalties and modernizing the ministry’s compliance policies that inform program delivery.
• continue to provide 24/7 response to spills and pollution incident reports through the Spills Action Centre.
• continue to uphold the polluter pays principle, ensuring ministry spill response costs are recovered through the spill cost recovery program.
• continue to safeguard drinking water through the enforcement of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
• in collaboration with the Walkerton Clean Water Centre and the Ontario Clean Water Agency, continue to provide First Nations communities, at their request, with access to training and provincial expertise related to water and wastewater systems. This includes a multi-year project to enhance their capacity to address long-term drinking water advisories on reserves and improve the long-term sustainability of their water infrastructure.
• reinvest more than $2 million in funds collected from environmental penalties through the Ontario Community Environment Fund to support projects that improve the environment and give people opportunities to experience nature, such as shoreline cleanups, habitat restoration and tree planting.
• continue to work with partner ministries to identify and reduce regulatory burdens while still being protective of the environment, including mines, agribusiness and small business.
• work collaboratively with regulated entities to implement innovative solutions for environmental issues that will support Ontario’s economic well-being and set a level playing field for business.

Environmental Assessment and Permissions Division

This division leads the transformation of Ontario’s environmental permissions using a risk-based, client-centred, electronic service delivery model, balancing strong environmental oversight with modernizing review processes, ensuring priority projects are built faster.

We will:

• continue to expand the types of activities that are regulated through a registration-first approach, allowing more entities that currently need an environmental compliance approval, permit to take water, record of site condition or renewable energy approval to begin operation immediately upon self-registration without the need for ministry review.
• continue to exempt more low-risk activities from requiring environmental permissions.
• complete the transition to a consolidated linear infrastructure approach for municipal stormwater and sewage collection systems, to eliminate the need for developers to get an approval from the province.
• continue to issue environmental permissions (for example, environmental compliance approvals, permits to take water) in a timely manner.
• expand the use of flexible permissions to allow companies to make certain changes to their operations without having to amend their permissions.
• continue supporting priority projects that attract large new investments and create jobs in Ontario, such as mining and electric vehicle battery manufacturing facilities by providing one window service to help them navigate and fast track their environmental permissions and approvals and supporting our partners at the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade and Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM).
• continue to work with MEM to support the implementation of their 1 Project 1 Process (1P1P) initiative, working across all ministries to speed up permissions and eliminate duplication.
• continue supporting the auto sector by moving facilities to consolidated and streamlined approvals that work with their environmental management systems.
• support the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement initiative to move permitting to a single window for business approach, including the pilot project to move all 1P1P mining projects into the single window. Make information on the status of environmental permissions available through their portal.
• eliminate Environmental Activity and Sector Registry (EASR) fees if Bill 5, the Protect Ontario By Unleashing our Economy Act, is passed.
• continue to improve the online permissions application system to speed up and improve environmental permissions applications while working to transform digital delivery of permissions through the broader single window for business.
• continue to effectively deliver the environmental assessment program in accordance with its regulatory requirements including facilitating decision packages for Minister and Cabinet approvals in a timely manner.
• continue our efforts to exempt low-impact projects from the environmental assessment (EA) process and reduce duplication with other approvals processes, by moving remaining Class EAs to new time-limited streamlined environmental assessment regulations.
• develop a new environmental assessment regulation for municipal infrastructure to support Ontario’s rapidly growing population.
• cut overall timelines for the comprehensive EA process by improving guidance for proponents and reviewing our internal processes.
• develop sector-based terms of reference to significantly reduce the amount of time to complete environmental assessment requirements for projects, while also setting out the ministry’s standards and expectations, allowing for meaningful consultation and remaining protective of the environment.

Environmental Sciences and Standards Division

This division is responsible for providing scientific, technical and laboratory expertise to support policy and operational decision making and also for monitoring and reporting on the state of Ontario’s environment.

We will:

• invest in state-of-the-art monitoring and analytical equipment to support policy, permissions and operational efforts.
• publish the next Air Quality in Ontario Report (2023 data).
• continue working to address Sarnia Area Environment Health Project recommendations about reducing air pollution in the Sarnia area.
• enhance the Air Quality Ontario website for easier use and greater accessibility for both desktop and mobile applications, to further help the public make informed decisions about their health related to air quality.
• reinforce our existing air quality monitoring network to ensure that we can continue to collect, analyze and report on air pollution data now and into the future. We will also enhance our network with new technologies for more robust monitoring of key contaminants and air pollution events, such as wildfires.
• continue blue-green algae identification in the field in order to support faster evidence sharing with local public health units to inform protection of public health decisions.
• continue scientific and technical analyses and investigations and develop analytical tools to enable balanced delivery of government decision-making related to economic and land development.
• continue to support conservation and environmental planning by collecting baseline information on greenhouse gas emissions, carbon storage and other environmental monitoring in the Hudson Bay Lowlands and Ring of Fire.
• continue our partnerships with District Municipality of Muskoka and Federation of Ontario Cottagers’ Associations to support citizen science for inland lakes monitoring.
• continue to work with conservation authorities and Environment and Climate Change Canada to monitor water quality in the Great Lakes, with particular focus on Lake Superior.
• improve understanding of environmental impacts to vulnerable inland lakes from stressors such as road salt application and climate change.

Environmental Policy Division

This division leads the development of policy that protects air, land and water in Ontario, including operational policy and program development and implementation.

We will:

• work with producers and the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority to ensure smooth implementation of Ontario’s new extended producer responsibility framework, including the transition of the blue box program to producer responsibility, which started on July 1, 2023. Transition will be complete by December 31, 2025.
• work with the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority to help reduce burden for businesses while continuing to protect consumers and the environment.
• continue our work with the public, Indigenous communities, industry and others to drive strategies that better protect air quality and address unique challenges in communities by creating tailored solutions.
• continue to implement our excess soils framework to support the proper management of excess soils and ensure valuable resources don’t go to waste.
• lead intergovernmental and Indigenous relations for the ministry to build and maintain effective, meaningful relationships to advance Ontario’s priorities.
• continue to lead and coordinate ministry support for government-wide Burden and Red Tape Reduction initiatives.
• continue to administer the Environmental Bill of Rights, ensuring the public’s ability to participate in environmentally significant decision-making.
• oversee Ontario’s Drinking Water and Wastewater Certification Program.

Corporate Management Division

The division provides business supports to the entire ministry, including business and fiscal planning, financial management and controllership, agency governance, French language services, strategic human resources, facilities services, information management, emergency management, and corporate and capital projects.

We will:

• continue to support the implementation of the Ontario Public Service (OPS) People Plan, performance management, employee engagement, health and safety, mental health in the workplace, and labour relations.
• support the ministry in delivering on the key commitments of the OPS Code of Conduct and Leadership Pledge.
• lead the ministry’s business and fiscal planning process, provide financial oversight, and manage the ministry’s procurement, transfer payment and agency governance to ensure a robust financial position of the ministry.
• provide oversight for all facilities-related matters to support more efficient operations.
• drive modernization efforts on information management, provide oversight of digital transformation, and provide data services and analytics to program areas.
• implement the modernization roadmap for the ministry’s IT applications to improve service delivery and enable effective operations through uninterrupted, integrated digital services.
• deliver the ministry’s modernization of property information initiative to provide environmental property information to the public faster.
• provide emergency management oversight, coordinate Freedom of Information requests made by the public and provide guidance to meet requirements set out in the French Language Services Act as well as translations services. 

2025-26 Strategic Plan

The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks continues to take action to protect Ontario’s air, land, water and species at risk for future generations. The ministry also continues to look for ways to more effectively serve the regulated community and accelerate projects in key sectors such as housing and infrastructure with streamlined environmental approvals.

In 2025-26, the ministry will deliver on these priorities through effective environmental monitoring, risk-based compliance and enforcement, evidence-based policies and high-quality programs that balance the best outcomes for both the environment and economy.

Notes: including statutory appropriations, consolidation, and other adjustments (not including assets). Numbers may not add due to rounding.

Detailed financial information

Table 2: Combined operating and capital summary by vote

Historic trend analysis data

For additional financial information, see:

• Expenditure Estimates
• Public Accounts of Ontario: past editions
• 2025 Ontario Budget

Agencies, boards and commissions (ABCs)

Note: Detailed financial information for the Species Conservation Action Agency (also known as the Species at Risk Conservation Trust), Ontario Clean Water Agency and Walkerton Clean Water Centre is provided in their Business Plans.

Legislation administered by the ministry

• Adams Mine Lake Act, 2004
• Cap and Trade Cancellation Act, 2018
• Capital Investment Plan Act, 1993 (Part IV re: Ontario Clean Water Agency only)
• Clean Water Act, 2006
• Endangered Species Act, 2007
• English and Wabigoon Rivers Remediation Funding Act, 2017
• Environmental Assessment Act
• Environmental Bill of Rights, 1993
• Environmental Protection Act
• Great Lakes Protection Act, 2015
• Kawartha Highlands Signature Site Park Act, 2003
• Keeping Polystyrene out of Ontario’s Lakes and Rivers Act, 2021
• Lake Simcoe Protection Act, 2008
• Ministry of the Environment Act
• Ministry of Natural Resources Act (together with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry)
• Municipal Water and Sewage Transfer Act, 1997
• Nutrient Management Act, 2002 (together with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs)
• Ontario Water Resources Act
• Pesticides Act
• Provincial Day of Action on Litter Act, 2019
• Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act, 2006
• Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016
• Safe Drinking Water Act, 2002
• Supporting Growth and Housing in York and Durham Regions Act, 2022
• Waste Diversion Transition Act, 2016
• Water Opportunities Act, 2010 (except for Part II)

Ministry organization chart

Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks — April 15, 2024.

The chart shows the following hierarchical structure with the top level assigned to the Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks.

• Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks — Honourable Todd J. McCarthy
  • Group of 9 government entities
    • Advisory Council on Drinking Water Quality and Testing Standards
    • Committee On Status of Species At Risk Ontario
    • Lake Simcoe Coordinating Committee
    • Lake Simcoe Science Committee
    • Ontario Clean Water Agency
    • Ontario Parks Board of Directors
    • Species At Risk Program Advisory Committee
    • Species Conservation Action Agency
    • Walkerton Clean Water Centre
  • Deputy Minister — S. Harrison
    • Communications Branch — A. Brunetti A
    • Legal Services Branch —L. Borg A
    • Land and Resources Cluster — C. DeRose
    • Resource Audit Branch — E. Sheu
    • Environmental Policy Division — ADM — R. Kurtes A
      • Air Policy and Programs Branch — D. McDonald
      • Environmental Policy Branch — A. Noor A
      • Resource Recovery Policy Branch — C. O’Hara
      • Strategic Policy and Partnership Branch — M. Stickings
    • Climate Change and Resiliency Division — ADM — A. Wood
      • Adaptation and Resilience Branch — T. North
      • Climate Change Policy Branch — P. Fancott
      • Climate Change Programs and Partnerships Branch — C. Steinman
      • Environmental Economics Branch —  S. Beaton
      • Financial Instruments Branch — D. Cayley A
    • Land and Water Division — ADM — C. Stuart
      • Conservation and Source Protection Branch — K. Service
      • Great Lakes and Inland Waters Branch — L. Luong
      • Ontario Parks Growth and Partnerships Branch — C. Beckett
      • Ontario Parks Operations Branch — J. Travers
      • Species at Risk Branch — T. Coulter
      • Caribou Conservation — S. Ecclestone
    • Environmental Sciences and Standards Division — ADM — A. Wood A
      • Environmental Monitoring and Reporting Branch — J. Ward
      • Laboratory Services Branch — A. Parks A
      • Technical Assessment and Standards Development Branch — J. Schroeder
    • Environmental Assessment and Permissions Division — ADM — L. Trevisan
      • Client Services and Permissions Branch — H. Malcolmson
      • Environmental Assessment Branch — K. O’ Neill
      • Environmental Assessment Modernization Branch — A. Cross A
      • Environmental Permissions Branch — B. Aminvaziri
    • Drinking Water and Environmental Compliance Division — ADM / Chief Drinking Water Inspector — S. Carrasco
      • Environmental Investigations and Enforcement Branch — D. Manol A
      • Modern Regulator Branch — M. Evers
      • Operational Services Branch — L. Hussain A
      • Strategic Delivery Branch — N. Aguda A
      • Central Region —  R. Fletcher A
      • Eastern Region — P. Taylor
      • Northern Region — P. Kovarik A
      • Southwest Region — J. Ritchie A
      • West Central Region — L. Hussain
    • Corporate Management Division — ADM / Chief Administrative Officer — S. Tao
      • Business and Fiscal Planning Branch — M. Edwards
      • Corporate Services Branc — O. Silva
      • Information Management Strategy Branch — A. Roberts A
      • Science Complex Capital Project Office — T. Leung A
      • Strategic Human Resources Branch — J. LeGris

Appendix: 2024–2025 Annual report

2024–25 Results

In 2024-25, the ministry continued our work to protect our land, air and water, and ensuring a safe, healthy, and clean environment right now and for future generations, while driving innovation and supporting families and businesses.

In working with our partners, communities, organizations and industry, we have been able to achieve significant progress to deliver on our priority initiatives and risen to meet new challenges.

Progress to date

The actions highlighted below illustrate how our accomplishments over the past year have contributed towards addressing our environmental priorities.

Climate Change and Resiliency Division

We have:

• concluded activities for the second compliance year (2023) under the Emissions Performance Standards program and finalized improvements in the form of regulatory amendments that clarified requirements, improved program efficiency and addressed fundamental changes in some Ontario industries.
• worked with industries to support their efforts to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by reducing and phasing out the use of coal in their operations. For example, together with our partners at the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, the province committed to investing up to $500 million in ArcelorMittal Dofasco to help the company replace its coal-fed coke ovens and blast furnaces with an electric arc furnace. This will result in about 3 million tonnes of CO2 emission reductions a year – the same as taking almost 1 million cars off the road.
• worked with the Ministry of Northern Economic Development and Growth, Ministry of Energy and Mines, and Ministry of Natural Resources to secure a major investment in clean steelmaking technology in Sault Ste. Marie, which will lead to substantial reduction in greenhouse gases – removing up to an additional 3 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions upon project completion.
• changed Ontario’s alternative low-carbon fuels regulation to simplify the approvals process for manufacturers of cement, lime, iron and steel, to make it easier to substitute the use of coal and petroleum coke with fuels derived from materials that would otherwise be disposed in landfills.
• as part of the 2021 Canada-Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health, committed to working with communities around the Great Lakes to promote the use of adaptive management tools and to identify best practices to enhance their resilience to climate change impacts, as well as increasing their ability to implement these tools.
• worked with Ontario Financing Authority (OFA) that have issued green bonds a total of $20.25 billion since 2014 to help finance public transit initiatives, extreme-weather resistant infrastructure, and energy efficiency and conservation projects.

Land and Water Division

We have:

• expanded the popular Ontario Parks online vehicle permit parking program to 17 additional parks to ensure park visitors have guaranteed daytime parking and park access. Last year alone, over 978,000 daily vehicle permits were sold. Extended the camping season at an additional 16 parks to increase camping opportunities for Ontarians.
• provided free day use entry to provincial parks across the province on July 19, 2024, encouraging Ontarians to get outdoors and enjoy nature as part of the Healthy Parks Healthy People movement and celebration day.
• advanced work to expand Ontario’s protected areas system, including consulting publicly on a proposal to regulate 27 sites totaling over 10,000 hectares as additions to provincial parks or conservation reserves.
• completed detailed site assessments, working with ministry partners to identify additional potential protected areas for future consultation.
• protected over 174,000 hectares of land across the province through the Greenlands Conservation Partnership program. Provincial funds have been matched by over $130 million of investment from private and non-provincial government sources. The program has been successful in leveraging about $3.6 of non-provincial investment in new protected areas for every dollar of provincial funds, exceeding the minimum match ratio of 1.5:1. The Greenlands Conservation Partnership program was renewed for an additional four-year term (2024- 2028) and includes a 2:1 match ratio.
• provided nearly $4.5 million through the Species at Risk Stewardship Program to support local non-profit organizations, Indigenous communities and other stakeholder groups in protecting and recovering species at risk and their habitats.
• successfully completed implementation of the first three years of the Canada-Ontario Conservation Agreement on Boreal Caribou, a five-year agreement to advance the protection and recovery of caribou and invested more than $15 million in its implementation in 2024-25 (including contributions from the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the federal government). Since 2022-23, we have invested more than $17 million in stewardship projects to advance caribou conservation under the Caribou Conservation Stewardship Program including habitat restoration, research and monitoring.
• successfully completed implementation of two funding programs supported by a $25-million investment in wastewater and stormwater. The programs supported municipalities in improving the management of Lake Ontario wastewater and stormwater discharges and improving transparency around monitoring and public reporting of sewage overflows and bypasses from municipal systems in the Great Lakes.
• invested $11 million in approximately 200 projects through the Wetlands Conservation Partner Program to restore and enhance wetlands across Ontario, improving water quality, reducing flood risk, and building greater resilience to climate change. From 2020 to 2025, Ontario invested $31 million in wetland enhancement and restoration – the largest in the province’s history.
• continued to protect inland waters and vulnerable lakes, rivers and streams, including investing approximately $1.2 million in 22 multi-year funding projects to improve our understanding of the complex stressors facing the Lake Simcoe watershed, and improve the ecological health of the lake, including 10 new projects in 2024-25.
  • invested in actions that will help protect and restore the Great Lakes, including approximately $7.3 million in 64 new multi-year Great Lakes funding projects run by conservation authorities, community organizations and Indigenous peoples that are working to address commitments in the 2021 Canada-Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health (COA), Ontario’s Great Lakes Strategy and the Great Lakes Protection Act, 2015.
• continued federal-provincial collaboration in areas such as protecting and restoring the Great Lakes and Ontario’s inland waterways:
  • continued working with Canada to implement the binational Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement through the 2021 Canada-Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem. Ontario contributed expertise on numerous commitments including supporting Lake-wide Action and Management Plans helping to facilitate information sharing, set priorities and coordinate binational environmental protection and restoration work.
  • continued to work with 32 partners including provincial and federal ministries, agricultural organizations, First Nations and Métis communities, non-governmental organizations, conservation authorities and municipalities to implement actions under the Canada-Ontario Lake Erie Action Plan to reduce phosphorus loads to Lake Erie. This included actions to better manage wastewater and stormwater discharges; keep phosphorus on farmland and out of waterways through best management practices; restore and enhance natural heritage features, such as wetlands; improve monitoring and science; and enhance communication and outreach.
• continued actions to protect source water, including:
  • implemented source protection plans under the Clean Water Act, 2006 including integrating source protection into other provincial programs, such as spills response, permits and approvals, and working groups addressing the impact of road salt.
  • approved locally initiated amendments to source protection plans to keep them current and further protect sources of drinking water.
  • continued to support and provided more than $6 million in funding to source protection authorities to enable them to deliver on their responsibilities under the Clean Water Act, 2006, to protect local sources of drinking water from contamination and depletion and ensure source protection plans are implemented and maintained.
  • funded one First Nation and the Federation of Ontario’s Cottagers Association to use the ministry’s online Best Practices guide to conduct technical studies to map out vulnerable areas around local sources of drinking water, identify risks and develop an action plan to address those risks.

Drinking Water and Environmental Compliance Division

We have:

• released the 2023-24 Chief Drinking Water Inspector’s Annual Report confirming that Ontario’s drinking water systems continue to provide high-quality drinking water. The 2023-24 data shows that 99.9 per cent of more than half a million drinking water tests from municipal residential drinking water systems met Ontario’s strict, health-based drinking water standards.
• implemented Reg. 206/24: Air Pollution: Discharge of Benzene from INEOS Styrolution and enhanced oversight of the facility:
  • undertook community air monitoring during the movement of benzene on the property
  • imposed increased air monitoring requirements
  • Imposed benzene emission limits
• In 2024-25:
  • conducted over 6,300 planned compliance activities.
  • responded to almost 7,000 spills, over 6,700 pollution incident reports and over 2,400 Adverse Water Quality Incidents, which represent approximately 0.14 per cent of all samples submitted.
  • continued to apply compliance and enforcement response, including over 2,300 voluntary compliance actions, 115 orders and 18 tickets issued.
• investigations resulted in over 66 convictions with over $3.5 million in fines for environmental offences. This includes the $1.1 million fine (inclusive of victim fine surcharges) that was issued to a large petrochemical producer on September 16, 2024, for the discharge of slop oil in Sarnia, Ontario, which resulted in adverse effects to Aamjiwnaang First Nation.
• recovered over $0.54 million through the spill cost recovery program, which upholds the polluter pays principle and ensures ministry spill response costs are covered.
• in 2024-25, Ontario issued 15 environmental penalty orders for 29 violations, which totaled over $730,000 demonstrating swift enforcement. On May 31, 2024, the ministry made amendments to the Environmental Penalties Regulations (O. Reg. 222/07 under the Environmental Protection Act and O. Reg. 223/07 under the Ontario Water Resources Act) to include new contraventions specific to INEOS Styrolution Canada Ltd.’s facilities in Sarnia, Ontario. Worked with the Walkerton Clean Water Centre and the Ontario Clean Water Agency to continue to provide First Nation communities across Ontario with access to provincial technical expertise and training upon request. Some key achievements included:
  • the Ontario Clean Water Agency continues to work in collaboration with their First Nation Advisory Circle to help collectively understand the needs and priorities of First Nations communities.
  • to date, the Walkerton Clean Water Centre has trained 272 First Nation operators with their entry-level course for Drinking Water Operators for First Nations, as well as 263 Chiefs, band councilors and leaders on their responsibilities in managing those systems.
• worked with academic labs to analyze COVID-19 and other health threats and continued important research to advance Ontario as a leader in the science of wastewater surveillance. As part of the provincial wind-down of the Wastewater Surveillance Initiative on July 31, 2024, the program was transferred to the Federal government. During this transition, Ontario has cooperated with and shared expertise with them to support the provision of quality data for public health across the province.
• continued to address air issues in key stressed air sheds through the ongoing implementation of strategies such as the Sarnia Air Action Plan and the Hamilton Air Action Plan, which involve enhanced oversight of industrial facilities and air emissions, including:
  • enhanced inspections
  • reactive incident response
  • enhanced air monitoring
  • communication with local stakeholders.
• established a Heavy Industry Compliance Team to identify and abate sources of pollutants, assess compliance, review air quality data, and identify opportunities for reducing pollutants in the Sarnia area and Aamjiwnaang First Nation community.
• continued to partner with First Nations communities represented on the English and Wabigoon Rivers Remediation Panel (Panel) to make funding decisions associated with remediating mercury contamination in the English and Wabigoon Rivers.
  • worked collaboratively with the five First Nations to establish a project manager to coordinate remediation efforts in the English and Wabigoon river system. Contributed to decisions that helped build capacity and knowledge within First Nations communities through community and youth engagement to allow communities to meaningfully participate in Panel activities.
  • the Panel disbursed $36.6 million towards assessment of contamination and community engagement from the $85 million trust that was established under the English and Wabigoon Rivers Remediation Funding Act, 2017.
  • tabled the Five-Year Report under the English and Wabigoon Rivers Remediation Funding Act, 2017 (the Act). The report demonstrated that the Act is effectively supporting the funding of efforts to remediate mercury contamination in the English and Wabigoon Rivers.
• continued to work towards the implementation of the engineering and design plan to remediate contaminated sediments in the St. Clair River.

Environmental Assessment and Permissions Division

We have:

• facilitated minister’s approval of the Terms of Reference for four (4) projects proceeding through the comprehensive environmental assessment process.
• facilitated Cabinet approval of two (2) projects subject to comprehensive environmental assessment requirements.
• facilitated minister’s decisions on four (4) streamlined environmental assessments where Section 16 Order requests were received.
• prepared minister’s decision packages for five (5) transit projects subject to the streamlined Transit and Rail Project Assessment Process
• worked to pass the Highway 413 Act, exempting the Highway 413 project from Environmental Assessment Act requirements, helping get the project built faster while maintaining environmental protection.
• continued consultation on a proposal to replace the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment with a regulation that sets out a streamlined, time-limited process for certain municipal projects. If implemented, the proposal would reduce red tape and result in time and cost savings for municipalities servicing our growing communities.
• engaged the waste sector on the development of a standardized Terms of Reference for landfill expansion. If implemented, the proposal would save time and provide consistency.
• made amendments to the Environmental Assessment Act to provide more certainty to municipalities, provincial ministries and agencies that expropriation is one of the ways they are allowed to acquire property for a project before the environmental assessment process is complete.
• issued 536 Municipal Consolidated Linear Infrastructure approvals for municipal residential sewage collection and stormwater systems, allowing these systems to be expanded to support development without additional ministry approvals.
• finalized three permissions modernization proposals to move more activities to a permit by rule approach, finalized a streamlining transit permissions proposal and began work on new proposals to expand the existing permit by rule framework.
• issued 1,692 environmental compliance approval decisions and 760 permit to take water decisions.
• provided one window concierge support to over 50 government priority projects in the energy, automotive and mining sector.
• filed 403 Record of Site Conditions to the Brownfields Environmental Site Registry to support brownfields redevelopment.
• responded to the reports of high benzene emissions released by INEOS Styrolution Canada and immediately suspended their Environmental Compliance Approval and imposed conditions related to control of benzene emissions from the facility. To support the operation of local petroleum refineries that relied on benzene storage and processing by INEOS Styrolution, we issued several environmental permissions that allowed for alternative benzene management strategies to protect the human health, environment and the reliability of energy supply in Ontario.

Environmental Sciences and Standards Division

We have:

• released the annual Air Quality Report (2022 data).
• in response to elevated levels of benzene in Aamjiwnaang First Nation and the Sarnia area, conducted daily (7 days/week) mobile air monitoring from April to October 2024, added air quality monitors and created an automated dashboard summary of local monitoring results that is shared with the communities an on ongoing basis.
• enhanced Ontario’s Air Quality Health Index alert program to improve the responsiveness to wildfire smoke events to better inform the public of the health risks associated with wildfire smoke.
• finalized 45 risk assessments so that high risk contaminated sites could be cleaned up and put back to economic use, after thorough reviews to help ensure the sites will be redeveloped in a manner that is protective of human health and the environment. increased transparency of how Ontario manages water resources by releasing daily and annual amounts of water taken by permit-to-take-water holders in Ontario from January 2019 to December 2020 on the Open Data Catalogue.
• added four modernized buoys to Great Lakes sampling fleet and five groundwater systems to monitor in real-time with remote data access.
• installed a new carbon flux monitoring station to support conservation and environmental planning by collecting information on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon storage in the Ring of Fire area as part of the Hudson Bay Lowlands, a globally significant wetland and carbon store.
  • released updated health protective advice on PFAS in fish in 2024, as a leading agency in fish contaminant monitoring and trusted provider of fish consumption advisories. The ministry has also provided scientific leadership and advice to other provinces and international agencies (including U.S. EPA and Great Lakes states) to inform their path forward regarding emerging science on PFAS and human health.

Environmental Policy Division

We have:

• successfully transitioned 311 local blue box programs to producer responsibility, starting July 1, 2023. Transition will be complete by December 31, 2025.
• monitored the implementation of the other four producer responsibility programs (battery, tires, electronics, and hazardous and special products), including amending the four regulations to increase flexibility, reduce burden and simplify requirements for producers.
• continued to work through the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment with other provinces, territories and the federal government on a range of issues, including implementing the Canada-wide Action Plan on Zero Plastic Waste and finalizing recommended updates to the Canadian Ambient Air Quality Standards for fine particulate matter.
• continued to advance Ontario’s environmental interests in a variety of trade agreements, while also supporting efforts to inform Ontario’s U.S. engagement strategy and domestic responses to tariffs imposed by the U.S. administration.
• continued to lead and provide overarching ministry-wide strategic coordination of the ministry’s efforts around burden reduction.
• continued to lead ministry-wide communications and learning opportunities on Indigenous relations, culture and history to advance the commitment to reconciliation, including sessions attended by over 1,000 staff.
• supported the publication of over 1,700 notices to the Environmental Registry of Ontario.
• reviewed the industrial technical standards for heavy benzene emitters, and made significant progress on two industry standards, which aim to reduce health and environmental risks and exposure to emissions in local communities.
• registered four facilities to the Asphalt Mix Industry Standard and one facility to the Metal Finishers Industry Standard, resulting in a total of 58 facilities being registered to one of the eight Technical Standards published under the Local Air Quality Regulation.
• created a new regulation that imposed benzene limits and monitoring requirements on the INEOS Styrolution Canada Ltd. Sarnia facility, to help protect local communities from exposure to benzene.
• established an Aamjiwnaang First Nation-ministry senior leadership table to enable continued engagement with Chief and Council. It provided a forum for the First Nation community to speak directly with the ministry about longstanding air quality concerns.
• amended the gasoline volatility regulation to reduce burden for regulated petroleum companies by further aligning Ontario’s regulation with national requirements.
• continued to implement our excess soils framework to support the proper management of excess soils and ensure valuable resources don’t go to waste, including consulting on regulatory amendments to encourage greater reuse of excess soil.
• issued over 9,831 individual and 37 facility-level certifications and administered over 5,179 operator exams through the ministry’s drinking water and wastewater operator certification program.

Corporate Management Division

We have:

• delivered business supports to the entire ministry, such as business and fiscal planning, financial management and controllership; agency governance including compliance and reporting; French language services; strategic human resources; facilities services; information management; emergency management; and corporate and capital projects.
• supported prescribed ministries in posting 2,600 notices on the Environmental Registry of Ontario to enable Ontarians to participate in environmental decision making.
• continued to transform, standardize, and digitize the ministry’s records and information management systems.
• delivered a modernization roadmap for the ministry’s IT applications to improve service delivery and enable effective operations through uninterrupted, integrated digital services.
• successfully delivered information technology projects and services to support modernization of the ministry’s compliance, permissions, monitoring, and analytics functions.
• provided data services and analytics to program areas.
• launched an open, competitive procurement process to transform the process of fulfilling property record requests through a digitized self-service solution.
• continued to enhance the ministry’s emergency management program through training, exercises and development of plans to enhance our preparedness to respond to emergencies in collaboration with other ministries and all levels of government.
• processed over 9,000 Freedom of Information (FOI) requests while significantly increasing our compliance in responding to FOI requests within the legislative timelines.
• continued to support MECP and client ministries in delivering public facing services in French including supporting ministries that provide public facing services in the newly appointed 27th designated area (Sarnia).