Prime Minister Mark Carney says the process for approving major projects is too arduous and has been holding Canada back for too long.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government unveiled legislation Friday to remove federal barriers to internal trade, define and fast-track certain “nation-building” projects, and relax rules on where skilled workers can operate.
Mr. Carney, who has argued the trade war started by the United States should be a catalyst for economic reform in Canada, said he intends to pass the One Canadian Economy Act through the House of Commons and Senate before the summer break.
“We’re in an economic crisis – we sometimes glide over that,” Mr. Carney said. “It is a top priority for this government, and we will do everything to get it passed before the summer and if Parliament needs to sit longer, it should sit longer in order to get it passed. That’s what Canadians expect.”
The legislation follows promises Mr. Carney made during the recent federal election campaign to turn Canada into an energy superpower, and builds on talks with provincial and territorial leaders on ways to boost Canadian economic growth in the face of protectionist tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
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The bill sets out criteria to declare a “major project” in Canada’s national interest. The criteria include the likelihood of a proposal’s completion, its contribution to national prosperity and whether it strengthens economic resiliency, advances the interests of Indigenous people and meets climate change objectives.
If a project meets those criteria – a decision cabinet will make – it would then benefit from a more streamlined approval process run through a central federal office.
The government is promising that decisions on projects will be made in two years, as opposed to the current five-year timeline.
“For too long, when federal agencies have examined a new project, their immediate question has been: Why?” Mr. Carney told reporters.
“With this bill, we will instead ask ourselves: How?”
It is unclear how fast the bill can pass into law and then how soon its provisions could be implemented – including adding projects to the list.
Federal officials, briefing journalists on the legislation, said the two-year project approval target is not legislated by the bill itself but represents a political commitment from Mr. Carney’s government.
Mr. Carney said Ottawa would not impose a project on any province. “We need consensus behind these projects, and we need the participation of Indigenous peoples,” he said.
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said her organization will hold an emergency online meeting on June 16 for all chiefs to discuss the legislation.
It is important that Parliament give First Nations enough time to properly review and propose amendments to the bill, she said, and rights are at stake.
“Failure to obtain free, prior and informed consent will likely result in protracted litigation,” she told The Globe and Mail.
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak speaks during a new conference on Parliament Hill.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
As possible national projects, the Prime Minister cited the Eastern Energy Partnership that would help ship hydro and wind power from Atlantic Canada and Quebec to Western Canada and the United States. He also named the Arctic Corridor, which would build infrastructure in Canada’s North.
Quebec Premier François Legault said he’s been clear with Mr. Carney that a pipeline will not be going through Quebec.
“When you’re talking about pipelines, they don’t pass through Quebec. It’s not a question,” he told reporters in Quebec City on Friday.
“The other provinces can do what they want, but in Quebec, there is no question of delegating to federal power.”
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Mr. Carney has a minority government and would need the support of another party to pass the legislation.
Federal Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre said the proposed bill is an admission the previous Liberal government’s approach to natural resource development was a failure.
Mr. Carney should repeal existing laws, not just sidestep around them for certain projects, as this bill proposes, Mr. Poilievre said.
“If you have a wall that’s blocking everybody from getting where they need to go, why would you say that only a certain group of people are allowed to go around and the rest must stand there facing that wall? Why not knock down the wall?” he said.
Mr. Poilievre said his party would seek to amend the bill to repeal current laws that obstruct resource development – but he also said his party won’t get in the way of anything that speeds up development.
Whether the Conservatives will vote for the bill will be decided by caucus, Mr. Poilievre said.
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The legislation would also scale back federal rules that apply to trade across provincial and territorial borders.
For example, the government said, a washing machine manufacturer would only have to meet its home province’s energy-efficiency standards when selling to customers in another province, instead of complying with national standards as well.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford praised the initiative, saying it, and efforts by provinces to take down their own trade barriers, will be boost the economy. But some economists have said it could be years before significant growth results.
The legislation would also address the current need for workers in certain provincially accredited or regulated fields to have parallel federal credentials to work on a federal job. The bill would see Ottawa recognize the provincial credential and not require another one.
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The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said it is encouraged by the bill but called on the Carney government to also address the broader regulatory environment, which the CAPP says is “inefficient and cumbersome.”
The advocacy group Environmental Defence said that if the Liberal government truly wants to make Canada an energy superpower, it must focus national projects around renewable energy and not oil and gas.
A spokesman for the Saskatchewan government welcomed C-5 as “a stopgap measure until more meaningful reform can be enacted” to improve the approval process for big projects.
“The federal government has a generational opportunity to transform the country into a global energy superpower, but that will only be achieved through streamlining the federal impact assessment regime and respecting provincial jurisdiction through one project, one review,” Matthew Glover said in statement.
With reports from Emily Haws, Laura Stone, Jeff Gray, Jeffrey Jones and Temur Durrani