The changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act introduced in the 2009 Budget Bill (Bill C-10) can be found in Part 7 of the Bill, starting on page 291, at: http://www2.parl.gc.ca/content/hoc/Bills/402/Government/C-10/C-10_1/C-10_1.PDF
From a brief review it appears that:
1. The Act does not follow the Standing Committees advice to define “navigable waters” to exclude “minor waters” – in fact it makes no mention of “minor waters”;
2. Instead, the Act gives the Minister discretion to determine what work is ‘substantial’ – i.e. it appears that the Minister has complete discretion to exempt work as he/she sees fit on any waterway, large or small;
3. Provision is made for ‘classes of works or navigable waters’ to be established by the Minister at a future date