Mark Carney will next week unveil legislation to guarantee two-year approvals for major nation-building projects—ranging from ports and pipelines to critical mineral mines and trade corridors—marking Ottawa’s boldest attempt since WWII to overhaul Canada’s regulatory regime.
The proposed “One Canadian Economy” framework promises upfront regulatory sign-offs and a single “conditions document” in lieu of multiple permits.
At the core of the bill is a new Major Federal Projects Office, which will serve as the sole liaison among resource companies, provinces and Indigenous communities. A designated minister will issue one consolidated authorisation—“deemed to constitute a permit, decision or authorization under all applicable statutes”—aimed at slashing the multi-year timelines that now dog infrastructure approvals.
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“We are going to name specific projects to which these fast-track approvals apply so that the country can get moving,” Carney said.
Ottawa’s blueprint, drafted by senior bureaucrats Christiane Fox and Mollie Johnson, is explicit in its ambitions: “open up the Canadian economy, reduce our reliance on the United States, and increase domestic productivity and competitiveness.”
It aligns with pledges in the Throne Speech for the “largest transformation of the Canadian economy since the Second World War” amid rising global uncertainty and fraught US-Canada relations.
Approvals “frequently include years of consultations and environmental impact studies,” and critics warn the new regime could dilute oversight. Chief Keith Corston of Chapleau Cree First Nation lamented being given only days to review the proposals—“same old chum’s game,” he said—foreshadowing potential legal challenges or parliamentary battles with the NDP and Bloc Québécois over the erosion of treaty and environmental rights.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford voiced support for projects that benefit his province—“I’m pushing the pipelines, based on one thing: that they use Ontario steel”—and its flagship Ring of Fire mining development. But he also faces backlash at home over his own Bill 5, which similarly curtails regulations to expedite mining. Tensions over jurisdiction and Indigenous consent could intensify at Monday’s first ministers’ meeting in Saskatoon.
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