Bill S-15 explained in plain English

Bill S-15 establishes Sable Island National Park Reserve of Canada, bans oil drilling there, and makes related amendments to national parks and offshore petroleum laws.

Bill S-15 creates Sable Island National Park Reserve of Canada and amends laws affecting national parks and offshore petroleum activities. The bill establishes Sable Island as a protected national park reserve and prohibits oil drilling within it and within one nautical mile of its shoreline. It allows existing leases, easements, and licences at Sable Island to continue under their original terms. The bill restricts surface access rights at Sable Island to activities like maintaining existing wellheads, low-impact petroleum exploration, emergency evacuation capacity, and emergency facility operations. It requires the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board to share applications with Parks Canada and consider Parks Canada's advice before approving any work or activities in the reserve. The bill also updates descriptions of commercial zones in Field, Yoho National Park and the Marmot Basin Ski Area in Jasper National Park. Additionally, it clarifies that national parks are dedicated to Canadians subject to any Act of Parliament, and repeals certain sections of the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 relating to Sable Island.

A Legislative Summary is currently being prepared for this bill by the Parliamentary Information and Research Service of the Library of Parliament. A pre-release version of this publication is available to parliamentarians and their staff, and can be obtained by submitting a request or contacting the Library of Parliament. Meanwhile, the following executive summary is available. On 12 February 2013, the Leader of the Government in the Senate introduced Bill S-15, An Act to amend the Canada National Parks Act and the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation Act and to make consequential amendments to the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 (Expansion and Conservation of Canada’s National Parks Act) in the Senate and it was given first reading. Bill S-15 amends the Canada National Parks Act to provide for the establishment of Sable Island National Park Reserve of Canada, to amend commercial zoning in the Community of Field in Yoho National Park of Canada and to reconfigure the leasehold boundary of the Marmot Ski Basin Area in Jasper National Park of Canada. Part 1 of this enactment amends the Canada National Parks Act to create Sable Island National Park Reserve of Canada. It also amends the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation Act to prohibit drilling for petroleum in Sable Island National Park Reserve of Canada or within one nautical mile seaward of Sable Island’s low-water mark, to restrict surface access rights provided for under that Act and to provide for the issuance of licences and authorizations with respect to activities that may be carried out in Sable Island National Park Reserve of Canada. Finally, it makes consequential amendments to the Canada Shipping Act, 2001. Part 2 amends the Canada National Parks Act to provide that the dedication of the national parks of Canada to the people of Canada is subject to any Act of Parliament. It also amends the description of the commercial zones for the Community of Field in Yoho National Park of Canada in Schedule 4 to that Act and of the leasehold boundary of the Marmot Basin Ski Area in Jasper National Park of Canada in Schedule 5 to that Act.