Canada aims to cut time needed for project reviews, and address strikes

Canada has introduced draft legislation aimed at expediting the approval process for major natural resource projects, a move Prime Minister Mark Carney deems essential to counteract the impact of US tariffs. The proposed legislation also seeks to complicate the process for a labor minister to order striking workers in key industries back to work, following multiple interventions by Ottawa to resolve work stoppages in critical sectors in 2024 and 2025.

Carney has emphasized the need to reduce obstacles to growth, particularly by streamlining the complex federal approval process for infrastructure projects. The current lengthy permitting times have led some energy and resource projects to take a decade or more to progress from proposal to completion. To address this, the new bill establishes a one-year timeframe for federal reviews and decisions, allowing for concurrent federal permit processes and reviews instead of sequential ones.

Federal Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson stated that the bill sends a message to the federal bureaucracy to become more efficient, asserting that the civil service must improve both its environmental work and speed. Hodgson emphasized that achieving the one-year timeline would rely not only on regulatory processes but also on project proponents providing data and project information promptly.

While the bill does not alter Indigenous groups' right to be consulted and accommodated on projects within their territories, Hodgson acknowledged the need for better and faster consultations. Carney's ruling Liberals hold a majority in the House of Commons, ensuring the legislation's eventual passage, although opposition parties may demand changes, potentially prolonging the approval process.

Moreover, the bill aims to tackle an article in the Labour Code that permits the jobs minister to swiftly end strikes and lockouts to maintain industrial peace. Ottawa has previously invoked this article to resolve disputes in crucial sectors such as railways, ports, airlines, and postal services, leading to union dissatisfaction.

Ottawa now proposes that a special mediator would engage with the parties for 21 days during major disputes, and the minister could only intervene after receiving a mediator's report and an assessment from the federal employment ministry regarding the potential damage caused by the stoppage.