Bill C-3 explained in plain English
An Act to amend the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act
Federal Parliament bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Parliament of Canada snapshot for 40th Parliament, 1st Session. MP vote breakdowns appear when the House of Commons publishes a recorded division export for that bill. Senate and House stage details include official debate/sitting links when LEGISinfo publishes them.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill C-3 expands the geographic area covered by the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act from approximately 100 nautical miles offshore to Canada's full exclusive economic zone boundary in the Arctic.
Bill C-3 changes how the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act defines the area of water where its pollution prevention rules apply. Currently, the Act covers Canadian arctic waters within about 100 nautical miles of the nearest Canadian land. This bill expands that coverage to reach all the way to the outer boundary of Canada's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) north of the 60th parallel of north latitude. Canada's exclusive economic zone can extend up to 200 nautical miles from the baseline of its territorial sea. The bill makes an exception: where Canada's border with Greenland is closer than 200 nautical miles from Canada's territorial sea baseline, the Canada-Greenland border becomes the limit instead of the outer edge of the EEZ. This expanded definition means the pollution prevention rules will apply to a much larger area of Canadian arctic waters.
- Replaces the definition of 'arctic waters' in section 2 of the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act
- Expands the geographic scope of the Act from the area within 100 nautical miles of the nearest Canadian land to include all internal waters of Canada, territorial sea waters, and exclusive economic zone waters within the area bounded by the 60th parallel of north latitude and the 141st meridian of west longitude
- Sets the Canada-Greenland international boundary as the limit instead of the 200 nautical mile EEZ boundary in areas where the boundary is less than 200 nautical miles from Canada's territorial sea baseline
- Comes into force on a date to be set by order of the Governor in Council
- Vessels and activities operating in Canadian arctic waters that are now subject to expanded pollution prevention requirements
- Ship operators and maritime industries conducting operations in the Arctic north of the 60th parallel
- The federal Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, who administers the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act
- Anyone or any entity responsible for pollution in an expanded area of Canadian arctic waters
- All existing obligations under the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act now apply across a larger geographic area extending to Canada's exclusive economic zone boundary north of the 60th parallel
- The bill comes into force on a date to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council (the specific date is not provided in the bill text)
- The bill text does not specify the exact date when it will come into force—only that it will be a date fixed by order of the Governor in Council
- The bill does not explain the specific reasons or policy objectives for this geographic expansion
- The bill does not detail how existing enforcement mechanisms under the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act will be applied to the expanded area
- It is unclear what specific new obligations or restrictions this geographic expansion creates beyond extending existing Act requirements to new waters
The definition of 'arctic waters' in section 2 is expanded to extend coverage from approximately 100 nautical miles offshore to the outer limit of Canada's exclusive economic zone north of the 60th parallel of north latitude, substantially increasing the geographic area subject to the Act's pollution prevention requirements.
Source: Section 1 of Bill C-3
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textThe official summary published alongside the bill, shown exactly as written.
Source: Parliament of Canada (LEGISinfo)
A legislative summary is currently being prepared for this bill by the Parliamentary Information and Research Service of the Library of Parliament. Meanwhile, the following executive summary is available. If you have any questions, please contact the Library of Parliament at (613) 995-1166. On 3 December 2008, Bill C-3, An Act to amend Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act was introduced and read a first time in the House of Commons. Bill C-3 amends the definition of “arctic waters” in the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act to extend the geographic application of the Act to the outer limit of the exclusive economic zone of Canada north of the 60th parallel of north latitude.
This is the official summary published by the Parliament of Canada, shown verbatim. Not legal advice. PoliticalData.ca did not write or edit this text.
View on LEGISinfoParliamentary Process
We don't have a plain-language summary for First reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Second reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Third reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for First reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Introduction and first reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Second reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Consideration in committee yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Report stage yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Third reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
Debate and sitting links point to official parliamentary sources when LEGISinfo publishes them. Any plain-language discussion summaries should be generated from those official texts and reviewed before public display.
Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced