Latest news with #C-69
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Ottawa's plan to ‘fast-track' infrastructure doesn't go far enough: Poilievre
OTTAWA – Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says the government's plan to circumvent the Impact Assessment Act to speed up key infrastructure projects doesn't go far enough. Taking questions from reporters in Ottawa today, Poilievre wouldn't say whether his party will support the bill without reading it first. The government is developing a 'national interest' bill to fast-track nation-building projects with a streamlined regulatory approval process as a substitute for reviews under the Impact Assessment Act. Poilievre says that while that might get some projects moving, there are dozens of other projects that might not even come forward as long as the act itself remains in place. Poilievre calls the Impact Assessment Act, also known as C-69, the 'worst approval system in the world' and frequently criticized it during the election campaign. Prime Minister Mark Carney campaigned on a promise to push big projects forward swiftly, as Canada seeks to decouple its economy from an increasingly unpredictable and unreliable United States. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2025.
Calgary Herald
14-05-2025
- Business
- Calgary Herald
Environmental laws could change to boost energy projects, Carney says
Prime Minister Mark Carney said he'll consider altering environmental regulations passed by his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, in order to facilitate investment in major projects in Canada, including oil and gas pipelines. Article content Article content 'We will change things at the federal level that need to be changed in order for projects to move forward,' Carney told CTV News in an interview that aired Tuesday, shortly after his new cabinet was sworn into office. Article content Article content Asked if those changes might apply to C-69 — legislation that created new rules for environmental assessments — or to a proposed cap on oil and gas industry emissions, he replied: 'Absolutely it could include both. But I'm not going to do it conceptually. I'm going to do it on specifics, do it for moving forward.' Article content Article content The two laws have been regularly cited by Pierre Poilievre, leader of the opposition Conservative Party, as impediments to major conventional energy developments. Before entering politics, Carney wrote and spoke at length about the importance of transitioning away from hydrocarbon-based energy to fight climate change. Article content His Liberal government faces a tense relationship with the premier of the oil-rich province of Alberta, where some are even agitating to secede from Canada. Former central banker won Canada's April 28 election, with his Liberal Party winning the most seats but falling just short of a House of Commons majority. The new energy minister is Tim Hodgson, a former director of Ontario electricity utility Hydro One Ltd. and Canadian oil producer MEG Energy Corp., and previously the CEO of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in Canada. Article content Article content Carney said his plan to make Canada a superpower 'in both clean and conventional energies' involves using domestic oil and gas production to displace imports — particularly from the US — as well as increasing exports. But it also means Canada should play a major role in nuclear and hydroelectricity, and possibly carbon capture and storage technology, he added. Article content He declined to say whether he trusts US President Donald Trump as the two leaders prepare to negotiate a new economic and security relationship between their countries. Carney said it's an advantage to Canada that the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement exists and it's 'not right that it's being violated' by Trump, who has sidestepped the agreement in placing tariffs on products including steel, aluminum and cars.
Calgary Herald
14-05-2025
- Business
- Calgary Herald
Carney says he's open to changing green laws to boost energy projects
(Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Mark Carney said he'll consider altering environmental regulations passed by his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, in order to facilitate investment in major projects in Canada, including oil and gas pipelines. Article content Article content 'We will change things at the federal level that need to be changed in order for projects to move forward,' Carney told CTV News in an interview that aired Tuesday, shortly after his new cabinet was sworn into office. Article content Article content Asked if those changes might apply to C-69 — legislation that created new rules for environmental assessments — or to a proposed cap on oil and gas industry emissions, he replied: 'Absolutely it could include both. But I'm not going to do it conceptually. I'm going to do it on specifics, do it for moving forward.' Article content Article content The two laws have been regularly cited by Pierre Poilievre, leader of the opposition Conservative Party, as impediments to major conventional energy developments. Before entering politics, Carney wrote and spoke at length about the importance of transitioning away from hydrocarbon-based energy to fight climate change. Article content His Liberal government faces a tense relationship with the premier of the oil-rich province of Alberta, where some are even agitating to secede from Canada. Former central banker won Canada's April 28 election, with his Liberal Party winning the most seats but falling just short of a House of Commons majority. The new energy minister is Tim Hodgson, a former director of Ontario electricity utility Hydro One Ltd. and Canadian oil producer MEG Energy Corp., and previously the CEO of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in Canada. Article content Article content Carney said his plan to make Canada a superpower 'in both clean and conventional energies' involves using domestic oil and gas production to displace imports — particularly from the US — as well as increasing exports. But it also means Canada should play a major role in nuclear and hydroelectricity, and possibly carbon capture and storage technology, he added. Article content
Winnipeg Free Press
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Danielle Smith — Alberta first and mostly
Opinion Let's talk a little bit about boundaries. Oh, and about Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. Smith is big on boundaries when it comes to her province: here's Smith talking about Ontario Premier Doug Ford: 'I don't tell him how he should run his province, and I would hope he doesn't tell me how I should run mine.' THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette Alberta Premier Danielle Smith She's complained thoroughly and regularly about the ways she sees Ottawa overstepping its federal authority — along with environmental restrictions on resource industries, she's mentioned a whole gamut of things: 'From taking over the regulation of plastics, to mandating how we operate child care, health care and dental care, to harassing law abiding firearms owners, to dozens of other examples of unconstitutional interference,' as she said in the 'Alberta Next' plan. Strangely, though, Smith has no boundaries when it comes to making demands of other provinces, or of the country as a whole. She complains about other provinces' natural resources — like their own coasts and ports — and their right to control them, maintaining Alberta should have guaranteed rights to access to other provinces. She insists that 'Alberta requires guaranteed corridor and port access to tidewater off the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic coasts for the international export of Alberta oil, gas, critical minerals and other resources in amounts supported by the free market, rather than by the dictates and whims of Ottawa.' As well, she has argued she should set federal policy: 'The federal government must end all federal interference in the development of provincial resources by repealing the no new pipelines law, C-69, the oil tanker ban, the net zero electricity regulations, the oil and gas emissions cap, the net zero vehicle mandate, and any federal law or regulation that purports to regulate industrial carbon emissions, plastics, or the commercial free speech of energy companies.' Not only that. When she insists, 'The federal government must refrain from imposing export taxes or restrictions on the export of Alberta resources without the consent of the Government of Alberta,' she's making a de facto demand that Alberta gets to set international trade policy, something that's firmly within the federal purview. She also wants to put her province's thumb on the scales of federal funding, saying 'the federal government must provide to Alberta the same per capita federal transfers and equalization as is received by the other three largest provinces — Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.' Stoking division is the wrong policy. That's not the only contradiction: on the one hand, Smith says she's not a proponent of separation, yet writes that Alberta is blessed 'with an endowment of natural resources that no other country on earth possesses.' (Oops, she slipped up and called Alberta a country. Hard to believe that was accidental.) The high-handedness of her approach is both deliberate and divisive Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Contrast that with the message sent out by Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew on Wednesday: 'Today I've written to Prime Minister Carney to share Manitoba's plan to partner on nation-building projects. From Arctic trade corridors to critical minerals, we're ready to grow the economy, strengthen sovereignty, and create opportunity across Canada.' Sharing a plan, rather than issuing an ultimatum. How novel. Smith is welcome to fight for her own province — she is expected to. But to complain about others overstepping their boundaries while she demands to be allowed to overstep hers? The fact is that the provincial governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan depend on the federal government: without the perpetual stalking horse of the feds, both the governments of Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, and Smith, might actually have to deal with provincial issues, rather than simply perpetually blaming everything on Ottawa. It's a tiresome routine.
Calgary Herald
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Calgary Herald
Tasha Kheiriddin: Carney has no choice but to listen to Danielle Smith
On the eve of Prime Minister Mark Carney's critical trip to Washington to meet U.S. President Donald Trump, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith stole the spotlight and turned it firmly on herself. In a twenty-minute 'address to Albertans,' she aired grievances against the federal Liberal government, from carbon taxes to Justin Trudeau's infamous 'no more pipelines bill,' C-69. Smith also presented a list of demands, from resource corridor development to greater provincial control over energy and immigration. And she pledged to hold a referendum on Alberta independence should 'enough' citizens demand one — while insisting multiple times that she doesn't support secession herself. Article content Article content Article content The timing was no accident. Smith wanted to be a topic of conversation in the White House. Perhaps she's angling for another interview on Fox News. Or perhaps she is trying to stay in power, pacifying the same angry base that ousted her predecessor, Jason Kenney, in 2022 after he won only 51.4 per cent in a leadership review. Article content Article content Albertans often point to the success of Quebec in dominating the national conversation — and extracting concessions from Ottawa — by threatening separation. But Quebec's grievance is cultural, not economic — rooted in preserving a French-speaking enclave in an English continent. Alberta's complaint by contrast, is financial. The province sees itself as the country's cash cow, milked for equalization payments and dismissed by Laurentian elites for decades — and on this, Smith is not wrong. Article content Article content Alberta was created as a province in 1905, but the federal government retained Crown lands until the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement and directly controlled its resources until 1930. The province has a particularly bitter history with Liberal governments: Pierre Elliott Trudeau enacted the National Energy Policy in the 1980's, while son Justin brought in carbon taxes, emissions caps, and the aforementioned Bill C-69 in the 2010's. Article content
