3 days ago
From Nova Scotia's 'Wind West' to Alberta's pipeline dream, here are the national projects premiers are pitching Carney
OTTAWA — Think of it like the premiers' edition of Dragon's Den.
When provincial and territorial leaders meet in Saskatoon next week, each will arrive armed with a list of projects they want fast-tracked and are seeking federal money to get off the ground.
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While Prime Minister Mark Carney has not signalled that he plans to act like a venture capitalist to finance these endeavours, he has promised to speed up the timeframe from five to two years for massive infrastructure and energy projects to secure the necessary approvals by creating a new major projects office.
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Doing so would happen through legislation planned to be tabled by the end of June, expected to be combined in a bill to fulfill Carney's other promise of eliminating federal trade barriers. He has said he wants that to happen by July 1.
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A background document, titled 'major projects and proposed national interest legislation,' prepared by the Privy Council Office and obtained by National Post, outlines how Carney's government intends to fulfill his federal campaign promise to 'build, baby, build.'
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'The legislation would be designed to enable upfront decision-making on a small number of projects,' it reads.
'Once a project is determined to be in the national interest, federal reviews will shift from 'whether' to build these projects to 'how' to best advance them. It will streamline multiple decision points for federal approval and minimize the risk of not securing project approval following extensive project work.'
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It goes on to highlight how the forthcoming legislation would lay out the factors that would be used to determine how a project would be considered to be in the 'national interest.'
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'Projects will also be assessed against Indigenous and provincial (and) territorial interests and their clean growth potential.' It adds that leaders have asked that mines, nuclear facilities and ports be prioritized along with 'other infrastructure.'
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According to the document, the legislation would include a list of 'national interest' projects, adding that the government could add to that list through various orders.
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'Once determined to be in the national interest, a project would be prioritized and benefit from a seamless, single point of contact — the major federal projects office.'
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It goes on to describe that a regulatory order stating a project was in the national interest would allow the legislation 'to provide that all subsequent federal regulatory requirements are deemed to have been satisfied' and that a 'conditions document' would be issued to address impacts of the project, which could include 'mitigation measures.'
