Bill S-4: An Act to amend the Energy Efficiency Act

Tabled in the Senate, February 03, 2026

Explanatory Note

Section 4.2 of the Department of Justice Act requires the Minister of Justice to prepare a Charter Statement for every government bill to help inform public and Parliamentary debate on government bills. One of the Minister of Justice’s most important responsibilities is to examine legislation for inconsistency with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [“the Charter”]. By tabling a Charter Statement, the Minister is sharing some of the key considerations that informed the review of a bill for inconsistency with the Charter. A Statement identifies Charter rights and freedoms that may potentially be engaged by a bill and provides a brief explanation of the nature of any engagement, in light of the measures being proposed.

A Charter Statement also identifies potential justifications for any limits a bill may impose on Charter rights and freedoms. Section 1 of the Charter provides that rights and freedoms may be subject to reasonable limits if those limits are prescribed by law and demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society. This means that Parliament may enact laws that limit Charter rights and freedoms. The Charter will be violated only where a limit is not demonstrably justifiable in a free and democratic society.

A Charter Statement is intended to provide legal information to the public and Parliament on a bill’s potential effects on rights and freedoms that are neither trivial nor too speculative. It is not intended to be a comprehensive overview of all conceivable Charter considerations. Additional considerations relevant to the constitutionality of a bill may also arise in the course of Parliamentary study and amendment of a bill. A Statement is not a legal opinion on the constitutionality of a bill.

Charter Considerations

The Minister of Justice has examined Bill S-4, An act to amend the Energy Efficiency Act, for any inconsistency with the Charter. This review involved consideration of the objectives and features of the Bill.

What follows is a non-exhaustive discussion of the ways in which Bill S-4 potentially engages the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Charter. It is presented to assist in informing the public and Parliamentary debate on the bill. It does not include an exhaustive description of the entire bill, but rather focuses on those elements relevant for the purposes of a Charter Statement.

The bill would amend the Energy Efficiency Act to allow for the promotion of energy efficiency and the responsible use of energy and to encourage the transition to a low-carbon economy. The bill intends to do this by prohibiting the import and interprovincial shipping of energy-using products unless the product complies with the applicable energy efficiency standards. The bill would provide authority for the Governor in Council to make regulations that prescribe standards for energy-using products, which would specify the manner and conditions under which such an energy-using product may be imported or shipped interprovincially. The bill would also allow the Minister to exempt persons or energy-using products from the application of the prohibitions in the Act and its regulations, as considered appropriate.

Packaging, labelling and advertising

The amendmentswould prohibit the labelling or advertisement in any public-facing medium of an energy-using product that includes, in any way, information that is false, misleading, or likely to create a mistaken impression.

Section 2(b) of the Charter provides that everyone has freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication. Section 2(b) generally extends to advertising and other expression that is done for commercial purposes, including commercial expression of corporations and individuals. This prohibition would likely engage the right to freedom of expression protected under section 2(b) of the Charter.

The following considerations support the consistency of the provision with section 2(b) of the Charter. The restrictions on expression have the aim of protecting consumers from misleading or false information and deceptive marketing tactics. This type of commercial expression does not usually implicate the core values of the Charter right, which includes the search for political, artistic, and scientific truth, the protection of individual autonomy and self-development, and the promotion of public participation in the democratic process. Limits on expression that do not engage the core values of the right are more easily justified. Further, the provision is reasonably tailored so that it does not prohibit entities from making advertisements in respect of the energy efficiency of the product, but rather prohibits only advertisements that are false, misleading, or deceptive.

Inspection Powers

The bill would amend, by re-enacting, powers of enforcement officers or inspectors to enter and inspect any place where they have reasonable grounds to believe that relevant information is located or an activity regulated by the Act is conducted, to clarify that these powers may be used for the purpose of verifying compliance or preventing non-compliance with the Act. The bill also allows for an inspector to seize and hold any energy-using product or other thing relevant to this same purpose.

Section 8 of the Charter protects against “unreasonable” searches and seizures. The purpose of section 8 is to protect individuals against unreasonable intrusion into a reasonable expectation of privacy. A search or seizure that intrudes upon a reasonable expectation of privacy will be reasonable if it is authorized by a law, the law itself is reasonable (in the sense of striking an appropriate balance between privacy interests and the state interest being pursued), and it is carried out in a reasonable manner. The assessment of the reasonableness of the law is a flexible one that takes into account the nature and purpose of the legislative scheme, and the nature of the affected privacy interests. These inspection powers have the potential to engage section 8 of the Charter.

The following considerations support the consistency of these provisions with section 8 of the Charter. Inspection powers would be limited to places where inspectors have reasonable grounds to believe that the relevant information is located. Further, privacy interests are diminished in the regulatory and administrative contexts. In the case of a place occupied as a residence where privacy interests are heightened, inspectors would only be authorized to enter with the consent of the occupant or with a warrant issued by a judge. In reviewing the relevant provisions, the Minister has not identified any potential effects that could constitute an unreasonable interference with privacy as protected by section 8 of the Charter.

Administrative Monetary Penalties

The bill would establish an administrative monetary penalties regime for breaches of the Energy Efficiency Act and its regulations. Where there are reasonable grounds to believe that a person has committed a violation, an individual designated by the Minister for this purpose would have the authority to issue a notice of violation. The person named in the notice of violation would have the right to request a review of the decision that they have committed a violation, of the penalty imposed, or both. The penalties would be subject to a legislated cap of $5,000 for individuals for each violation of the Act and $25,000 in the case of an entity, with no mandatory minimum penalty. As an alternative for paying a penalty, a person could request to enter into a compliance agreement, with terms acceptable to the Minister, for the purpose of ensuring their compliance with the provisions of the Act to which the violation relates.

Section 11 of the Charter guarantees certain rights to persons who have been charged with an offence. Persons are “charged with an offence” within the meaning of section 11 if they are subject to proceedings that are criminal by nature, or that can result in “true penal consequences”. True penal consequences include imprisonment and fines with a punitive purpose or effect, as may be the case where the fine or penalty is out of proportion to the amount required to achieve regulatory purposes.

The bill could result in the imposition of substantial monetary penalties and therefore has the potential to impact section 11 rights. The following considerations support the consistency of these amendments with the Charter. The proceedings leading up to the imposition of a penalty would be administrative in nature. The purpose of imposing a penalty would be to promote conduct that complies with the provisions of the Act and its regulations, rather than to punish, as that concept is defined for the purpose of section 11 of the Charter. The imposition of administrative monetary penalties under the proposed regime would not give rise to “true penal consequences,” such as fines or penalties with a punitive purpose, for the purpose of section 11 of the Charter.