Environmental liabilities and asset retirement obligation

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Environmental liabilities are based on the government's best estimate of the amount required to remediate the site to current minimum environmental standards. Asset retirement obligations are the government's estimated costs related to obligations associated with the retirement of tangible capital assets. These costs are normally capitalized and amortized over the asset's estimated useful life. The liability reflects the present value of estimated future cash flows required to retire the asset.

Table 5.7
Environmental liabilitiesLinks to footnote * in Table 5.7
(in dollars)
  2025 2024
Remediation liabilities for contaminated sites
Agriculture and Agri-Food
Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food 7,829,152 14,760,739
Canadian Heritage
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation 119,000 119,000
National Battlefields Commission 890,045 999,921
Subtotal 1,009,045 1,118,921
Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs
Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs 6,446,976,295 6,211,786,057
Energy and Natural Resources
Department of Natural Resources 1,850,178 1,776,203
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited 1,000,856,000 1,172,128,000
Subtotal 1,002,706,178 1,173,904,203
Environment and Climate Change
Department of the Environment 263,970,661 283,601,186
Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
Department of Fisheries and Oceans 307,526,325 294,313,309
Global Affairs
Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development 17,952 17,600
Housing, Infrastructure and Communities
The Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Inc. 116,002,000 112,688,000
Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority 8,921,000 8,394,000
Subtotal 124,923,000 121,082,000
Indigenous Services
Department of Indigenous Services 603,475,521 488,323,850
Innovation, Science and Industry
Department of Industry 765,587 1,301,743
National Research Council of Canada 2,494,750 3,291,949
Subtotal 3,260,337 4,593,692
National Defence
Department of National Defence 785,274,752 736,358,661
Parks Canada
Parks Canada Agency 162,225,702 154,833,597
Public Safety
Canada Border Services Agency 6,345,278 513,895
Correctional Service of Canada 678,111 1,794,526
Royal Canadian Mounted Police 6,435,909 6,273,063
Subtotal 13,459,298 8,581,484
Public Services and Procurement
Department of Public Works and Government Services 203,181,844 173,272,742
National Capital Commission 74,000,000 72,113,000
Subtotal 277,181,844 245,385,742
Transport
Department of Transport 295,939,621 291,418,492
VIA Rail Canada Inc. 3,726,000 6,779,000
Subtotal 299,665,621 298,197,492
Total remediation liability for contaminated sites 10,299,501,683 10,036,858,533
Other environmental liabilities
National Defence
Department of National Defence (unexploded explosive ordnance affected sites) 121,058,740 119,544,516
Total environmental liabilities 10,420,560,423 10,156,403,049

Table 5.7 notes

Table note *

The dash means that the amount is 0 or is rounded to 0.

Return to table note * referrer in Table 5.7

Changes in liability for remediation of contaminated sites

Table 5.8
Changes in liability for remediation of contaminated sites
(in dollars)
  2025 2024
Opening balance 10,036,858,533 10,118,201,468
Less: Expenditures reducing opening liabilities 1,173,654,047 976,424,073
Add:
Changes in estimated remediation costs 1,383,966,057 817,590,347
New liability for sites not previously recorded 52,331,140 77,490,791
Closing balance 10,299,501,683 10,036,858,533

In addition to expenditures reducing liabilities previously recorded, the government spent another $38,816,599 ($43,317,392 in 2024) in remediation costs on its contaminated sites when these costs became known in the year.

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