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The Carney government recently unveiled its first list of projects under the recently enacted Bill C-5, officially dubbed the “Building Canada Act.” In practical terms, under Bill C-5, the prime minister will determine what projects are—or are not—in the “national interest.”
Not the expressed interest of the public, which may want to buy things delivered via such projects. Not the expressed interest of investors who want to pump money and productive activity into the Canadian economy. No, people such as Steven Guilbeault—former minister of Environment and Climate Change, current Carney cabinet member, and perhaps the person most responsible for creating Canada’s major-project building problem in the first place—will help Prime Minister Carney determine what “major projects” are in the “national interest.”
Bill C-5 allows cabinet to override existing laws, regulations and guidelines to facilitate investment and the building of projects such as pipelines, mines and power transmission lines. Or, as we have recently seen, choose not to facilitate them.
The Carney government’s first project list does not include a single oil or gas pipeline project. The government says this is because nobody in the private sector has proposed one, which is likely true—as Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has observed, the current regulatory environment deters investment. Indeed, only a fool would spend the money needed to even write up a formal project proposal relating to oil and gas production or transport in Canada right now. Canadian energy CEOs sent Carney an open letter saying much the same thing. To spur investment, Canada needs major regulatory reform not more fiat governance. The CEOs want government to simplify regulations, shorten timelines for project approval, commit to growing production, create fiscal frameworks to attract investment and find ways to gain aboriginal support for oil and gas projects. All nice words, but also, all too general.
So, in the interests of helping the government figure out what it might do with more specificity, here’s a list of “Bills/Acts that Could be Repealed or Neutered in the National Interest:”
Repeal/neuter the Tanker Ban Bill, (Bill C-48), which discourages investment in oil and gas export capacity in Canada. Repeal/neuter the cap on Canadian oil-and-gas-related greenhouse gas emissions, which deters investment in Alberta oil and gas. Repeal/neuter the regulations for methane emissions in the oil and gas sector, which will almost inevitably raise costs and curtail production. Repeal/neuter the EV mandate, another thinly-veiled initiative that would dissuade potential investors from producing fuels for use in internal combustion vehicles. (And no, the recent trivial “review” initiative by the prime minister doesn’t count as meaningful repeal.) Finally, Carney could repeal/neuter the Orwellian-named Clean Electricity Regulations, which investment in natural gas production.
Canada, as is now recognized on across the political spectrum, has ambitions to become an “energy superpower.” But that race cannot commence until the runners lose the regulatory shackles that have been piled upon them over the last decade. The Carney government should focus more on specific unshackling and less on hollow cheerleading. In other words, less talk, more action.
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