Office of the Auditor General, environmental petitions
Is the Privy Council Office a designated entity, yes or no, with the provision.
The letter ·
Re: Environmental Petition no 550 - Genetically engineered foods, seeds and feeds released in Canada without mandatory notification, without mandatory labelling, and without any federal enumeration
Hello,
Petition file no. 0550. Your letter of 24 September 2026 states that the questions directed to the Privy Council Office are oriented towards accessing documents.
On 22 September 2026 those questions were put before the Office in the form they now hold.
19. For each of the 3 decisions named in question 14, state whether a strategic environmental assessment was required under the Cabinet Directive in force on the date of the decision, and whether one was conducted. Where none was conducted, state the basis of that determination.
20. State how the Privy Council Office verifies compliance by departments with either Directive. State the number of instances since 1 April 2024 in which a department was recorded as not having complied.
Question 20 seeks a number. Question 19 seeks a statement of what was done and on what basis. Neither seeks a record.
Subsection 22(1) of the Auditor General Act sets one test: an environmental matter in the context of sustainable development that is the responsibility of a designated entity. The provision holds no test of whether a question is oriented towards documents. Whether the Privy Council Office administers the Cabinet Directive on Strategic Environmental and Economic Assessment, and whether departments complied with it, is an environmental matter in the context of sustainable development on the face of the Directive's own title.
State whether the Privy Council Office is a designated entity within the meaning of section 2 of the Auditor General Act. Answer that question yes or no, and name the provision on which the answer rests.
Forward questions 19 and 20 to the Prime Minister as the appropriate Minister for the Privy Council Office, set out in column II of Schedule I.1 to the Financial Administration Act.
Answer by 5 October 2026.
Where the Privy Council Office is a designated entity and the questions are still not forwarded, those questions return to this Office as a separate petition under section 22 directed to the Prime Minister alone. The determination of 24 September 2026 goes to the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development.
Respectfully,
Danilo Dzyuban
The answer ·
Dear Mr. Dzyuban:
Thank you for your interest in the environmental petitions process. Attached you will find a letter from the Commissioner of the Environment relating to your petition, "Genetically engineered foods, seeds and feeds released in Canada without mandatory notification, without mandatory labelling, and without any federal enumeration."
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email].
Sincerely,