Public Participation, Executive Discretion and Environmental Assessment: Confused Norms, Uncertain Limits

CLIFF PROPHET

ABSTRACT

This paper develops a moral theory of public participation in administrative decision-making based on Kant's imperatives. After classifying the objectives of participation according to their consistency with the Kantian approach, the theory is applied to environmental assessment in Ontario in order to provide an example of the participatory opportunities that it mandates in a specific situation. Examining environmental assessment from a Kantian point of view reveals that the participatory opportunities provided by the process are not always explained by the Kantian liberal tradition. The choice of either discretionary or participatory decision mechanisms at particular points in the assessment process demonstrates normative confusion and shows a tension between liberal and non-liberal thought.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Citation: (1990) 48(2) U.T. Fac. L. Rev. 279.
Copyright © 1990. University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review.
All rights reserved.