Ten years of Trudeau Liberal governments have put major Canadian infrastructure projects in a massive government graveyard, buried under onerous regulations that have made progress impossible. With the passage of Bill C-5, the Mark Carney Liberals have made an audacious attempt to reverse the problem in short order. Unfortunately, the legislation is dangerous in its powers and tenuous in its potential for positive results.
First, a brief history. In 2012, the Stephen Harper Conservatives passed legislation that reduced the number of environmental regulatory bodies from 70 down to 3, streamlining approval processes for major infrastructure projects. This was a sensible approach that was efficient, depoliticized, and maintained reasonable environmental considerations.
When the Trudeau Liberals took over, they added new regulations, arbitrarily cancelled the Northern Gateway Pipeline, and banned tankers from the Northern B.C. coast. The regulatory environment was so bad, they had to buy the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion to bring it to completion.
The energy industry powers Canada, and its smothering has caused a malaise to the entire Canadian economy. During the last election campaign, Pierre Poilievre promised a regulatory environment that would get pipelines built, just one reason he brought Conservative support to a high water mark not seen since 1988.
For reasons of both political expediency and good governance, the Carney government had to address the regulatory burden swiftly. The result is Bill C-5, passed recently by the House of Commons. The legislation allows the cabinet to designate a project to be in the “national interest” and bypass the overburdened regulations the Liberals themselves created.
The sole justification for this approach is that Ottawa has held back Canada for so long, infrastructure projects are long overdue and cannot be done quickly enough. But, by every other consideration, the legislation is wrongful and an insult to Parliament.
If the Senate passes C-5, the Liberal Cabinet could overrule years of legislation debated by Parliament by nothing but its own whims. Project proponents who apply for a Schedule 1 (fast track) approval need only provide their name and the location of their principal activities and a brief description of what they intend to do.
The criteria that are supposed to guide the Cabinet’s decision are almost illusory. The legislation says that cabinet may consider any factor it deems relevant, then lists five criteria:
“a) strengthen Canada’s autonomy, resilience and security;
(b) provide economic or other benefits to Canada;
(c) have a high likelihood of successful execution;
(d) advance the interests of Indigenous peoples; and
(e) contribute to clean growth and to meeting Canada’s objectives with respect to climate change.”
These criteria are just enough honey to make the bad medicine go down. They sound good but have little force.
Instead, both the problems the Liberals created and the solution they have just introduced lead to one serious problem: an environment where in-depth, arms-length objective analysis is thrown out the window, and proponents needn’t do anything but convince cabinet to approve their project.
With billions of dollars at stake, should Canadians really believe that there won’t be kickbacks to cabinet ministers? This setup is a recipe for more Liberal nepotism to continue, the same kind that sent money out the door for Liberal-friendly people and businesses during the pandemic, and to Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC).
A Privy Council Office report in 2023 found STDC suffered from a “lack of governance and a continuous cycle of executive mismanagement.” Later an Auditor General’s report noted that $60 million was approved for ineligible projects, and $330 million was allocated by board members with conflicts of interest. The Conservatives dubbed STDC the “Green Slush Fund,” and it was disbanded two years before its scheduled 2026 expiry date.
However, the Conservatives supported Bill C-5, after successfully introducing some amendments that strengthened transparency around conflicts of interest. Having campaigned so stridently on the need to build infrastructure, Conservatives not only approved the legislation but they also approved time limits on normal debate so its passage could be rammed through before summer break.
Should the Conservatives regain power, they would likely find Bill C-5 a convenient tool they would drag their feet at surrendering. The powers of Bill C-5 are supposed to expire after five years, but only time will tell if that happens. History shows that when governments give themselves exceptional powers, they tend to outlast the threat under which they were introduced.
The bottom line is the Liberals are creating veto power over legislation previously passed by Parliament, all to put out a fire that they created. Canadians have good reason to be wary.
