Five days before Canada asked the world’s largest investors for $1 trillion, the federal government took a layer of review off its biggest energy projects.
Since 2019, pipelines, power lines, oilsands projects and natural gas power plants have been on the federal list of projects requiring review under the Impact Assessment Act, the law that came out of Bill C-69. For the largest pipelines and power lines crossing provincial or national borders, that meant filing with a second federal agency and waiting on a joint panel, on top of the licence they already needed from the Canada Energy Regulator. Both examined the same things, including effects on air, water, wildlife, health, local economies and Indigenous rights.
The energy industry and major investors have spent years pointing out that the duplication costs Canada projects, because companies weighing where to put capital will not pay for the same work twice.
New regulations published September 9 remove that duplication. Pipelines and power lines are now reviewed by the Canada Energy Regulator alone. Oilsands projects and natural gas plants come off the Impact Assessment Act list too, leaving them with the provincial regulators that were already reviewing them. The Act itself has not been repealed. It still applies, just to a shorter list of projects.
Removing the duplication is the change engaged women have been asking for. Our national research found 70 per cent support accelerating regulatory processes to attract capital back to Canada, and only 23 per cent expressed confidence that Canada can get large energy projects approved and built.