Canada scraps federal review of large projects

Canada’s federal government will permit major infrastructure and mining projects with provincial and territorial approvals alone, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday evening after meeting with the country’s 13 premiers.

“We will eliminate federal duplicative requirements by recognising provincial assessments for major projects, the so-called mutual recognition,” Carney told reporters in Ottawa. “So, one project, one review, and we will work with the provinces and other stakeholders, Indigenous groups, to identify projects of national significance and accelerate the time frame to build them.”

Carney said a leading project for the speedy permitting process would be the Cedar LNG project, a proposed Indigenous-led liquefied natural gas export facility estimated to cost $5.8 billion and located near Kitimat, British Columbia. The project is a partnership between the Haisla Nation and Pembina Pipeline Corp. The $80-million Churchill port revitalization project on Hudson Bay in northern Manitoba is the other.

The Liberal Party leader, who is expected to call a federal election on Sunday, laid out several parts of what amount to an economic platform for the imminent campaign. He said developing the Ring of Fire critical minerals region in northwestern Ontario would one of several potential future projects that could get a quick OK.

Earlier Friday, Carney said the government was cancelling plans to increase the capital gains tax to 66% from 50%. A week ago in his first move at a cabinet meeting, he cancelled the consumer carbon tax, echoing calls by other leaders such as Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre.

While the election hasn’t been called, Poilievre has also been making stump speeches, like one on Wednesday pledging to approve Ring of Fire within six months of being elected.

New funds

Carney also outlined a new First Mile fund to provide capital for building transmission and transportation networks to link extraction sites to existing rail and road networks.

“In other words, if you think of a critical minerals project or something that’s away from an existing network, linking them in can be decisive on the economics and whether they get built,” Carney said. “It’s time to build now.”

Another potential future major project could be the Grays Bay Road and Port project in western Nunavut, which aims to connect the mineral-rich Slave Geological Province to a deepwater port at Grays Bay via an all-season road. The project is being advanced by the Kitikmeot Inuit Association.

These projects join the government’s previous announcements for high-speed rail between Quebec and Ontario, and an integrated electricity system for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.  There also could be revamps to the Port of Montreal and the Second Narrows near the Port of Vancouver. Second Narrows is a key chokepoint for marine traffic entering and leaving the inner harbour of the Port of Vancouver, especially bulk terminals, container facilities and rail connections.

LEENSF

The Finance Ministry will oversee a new fund called the Large Enterprise Economic and National Security Facility (LEENSF) to provide liquidity support and funding for regional development agencies, Carney said. The fund’s size and the amount of spending for the short-listed projects wasn’t immediately clear.

The premiers and the prime minister agreed on Friday to develop a National Trade and Energy Corridor strategy for transportation, energy, critical minerals and digital connectivity, said Carney, only a week into his new job. They also pledged to remove all inter-provincial trade barriers by July 1, Canada Day, a move that could release $250 billion a year in economic impact, he said.

“The spirit of what we’re doing as First Ministers, and what we’re doing as the federal government is creating a framework so that the private sector will be building these projects,” Carney said. “Moving quickly on approvals, in other words, not duplicating approvals, we can create an environment where the taxpayers’ money is not at risk.”