The initial tranche of major projects the federal government will help get off the ground quickly include expanding liquefied natural gas production in B.C. and upgrading the Port of Montreal, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday.
As CBC News first revealed Wednesday evening, Carney unveiled a list of five “nation-building” projects. The list is being sent to the newly created Major Projects Office (MPO).
“We used to build big things in this country, and we used to build them quickly. It’s time to get back at it, and get on with it,” Carney said at an event in Edmonton. “That starts with getting out of the way.”
The prime minister said that major infrastructure projects in Canada have been stalled by a convoluted approval process rife with red tape — and the days of asking why a project should be built are gone.
“Canada’s new government now starts by asking ourselves for major projects: How?” Carney said. “How can we build? How can we do it bigger? How can we do it faster?”
Carney announces 5 major projects he says will bring $60B to Canada’s economy
The first five projects include:
“Combined, these five projects will generate more than $60 billion for the Canadian economy and create tens of thousands of high-paying careers for our workers,” Carney said. “These five projects are just the beginning.”
Carney also confirmed CBC News’ exclusive Wednesday report that his government would name additional projects that require further work before approval. They include:
The prime minister also unveiled a “critical minerals strategy” that he said will help projects “get to final investment decisions within a two-year window.”
Projects that would be prioritized under the new strategy, Carney said, include Ontario’s Ring of fire, the Slave Geological Area in the Northwest Territories and the Labrador Trough, shared by Quebec and Labrador.
Carney also said he will ask the MPO to help with the development of a “Canadian Sovereign Cloud” that would build data centres and computing capacity in a way that ensures the country’s competitiveness and digital sovereignty.
The second tranche of projects, the prime minister said, will be finalized before the Grey Cup in Winnipeg on Nov. 16.
Carney said the proponents behind this first tranche of projects have already done a lot of the hard work including consultation with Indigenous communities, provincial and territorial governments and local authorities. He said the first group of projects also already meet many of the required regulatory standards, but just need a little nudge to get them approved.
“The government is referring them to the MPO to be shepherded across the finish line,” Carney said. “The office will help these proponents achieve any remaining regulatory and permitting approvals and secure the necessary financing.”
Carney explained that these and future projects will receive some federal investment, but he would not say just how much that might be. Whatever federal dollars are invested, Carney said, will draw in much more from the private sector in most cases.
Carney says public dollars would ‘catalyze many multiples’ of private dollars in major projects
The prime minister also explained that many of the projects fit into his play for climate competitiveness. Carney highlighted the Pathways Plus project as an example, because it ties the potential construction of a new oil pipeline to the Pathways carbon capture and storage project.
The prime minister said if built, the Pathways project would reduce carbon emissions in Alberta equal to taking 90 per cent of the cars and trucks in that province off the road. He said other projects announced Thursday also promise an environmental dividend.
“It is no accident that the projects for example in the mining sector, or the LNG projects that we’re referring directly to the MPO are lower carbon,” Carney said, adding that being low-carbon while developing major projects will be necessary if Canada is going to trade with nations that are also trying to reduce their carbon footprint.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, one of the country’s most vocal proponents of a new oil pipeline, gave a positive review of the initial round of projects and said there’s “great progress” in the works.
The premier, who had a sometimes antagonistic relationship with the previous Liberal government, said on social media that she feels “more optimistic than ever that the concerns of Albertans are finally being heard.”
Radio-Canada reported prior to the announcement that Carney had told Smith the involvement of a private developer was essential for a pipeline project to move forward.
So far, no company has expressed interest in financing or carrying out such a project.
Other premiers also welcomed the announcement.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said at a news conference in Winnipeg he was happy to see the Port of Churchill included on the future projects list.
“Over the coming months, I think you’re going to get really excited about the vision as we announce this thing and build it out publicly,” he said.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre dismissed the projects on Carney’s list as “pathetic.”
“What he’s done today is announce that he’s going to send an email to an office that isn’t even fully staffed up yet, which will one day, consider, possibly, approving five projects,” Poilievre said.
Poilievre said that Carney should abandon his Major Projects Office, and instead back the Sovereignty Act — proposed legislation the Conservatives are promising to introduce in the fall.
Carney lists additional ‘nation-building’ projects to be examined by MPO
It repackages many Conservative campaign promises, including a pledge to repeal Bill C-69, what former Alberta premier Jason Kenney dubbed the “no more pipelines act”; scrapping the West Coast oil-tanker ban; killing the industrial carbon tax; eliminating the electric vehicle mandate and reversing the single-use plastics ban.
“All these projects need to go ahead is the removal of Liberal anti-development laws and taxes that make them impossible to build,” Poilievre said. “We don’t need a new bureaucracy in Ottawa or a new dream list. We need the federal government to get out of the way.”
Environmentalists were also critical of the list.
“Nation building should secure Canada’s future, not tie us to the polluting past,” said Aly Hyder Ali, oil and gas program manager at Environmental Defence. “Expanding LNG in a climate crisis is a dangerous mistake.”
And Greenpeace Canada said Carney “is creating a false narrative around what is in our national interest.”
Senior Greenpeace Canada strategist Keith Stewart said “the federal government needs to prioritize its ‘nation building’ plans around housing, cost of living, health care and quality of life, which must include protection from climate change affecting Canadians across the country.”
