Carney’s commitment: Federal approval no longer needed for key Infrastructure and mining projects

Prime Minister Mark Carney has publicly endorsed a long-desired policy goal amongst mining advocates in Canada of a “one project, one review” permitting system.

Carney announced recently that he and Canada’s premiers have agreed to eliminate all interprovincial trade barriers and streamline environmental assessments for major projects, including mining projects, high-speed rail, hydroelectricity grids, and pipelines. The plan is touted as a major way to replace duplicative federal and provincial environmental reviews with a single streamlined process.

“One project, one review. It’s time to build,” Carney told reporters this past Friday as he met with the premiers.

Mining companies, investors, and industry analysts have been saying for quite awhile that permitting and approval delays have been a major obstacle to building projects and have acted as a significant deterrent to mining investment. The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) – the leading national voice for the industry in the country – has written in a major report that: “There is a broad consensus that the timeline for the planning and approval process for new projects, (including “no go”) has to be shortened from 10-15 years without losing the requirements for good planning, environmental protection and Indigenous consultation.”

The MAC report concluded: “For nearly 30 years, the objective of “one project one assessment” remains elusive.  The combination of provincial and federal assessment and approval processes, and related necessary Indigenous engagement, continues to fall short of coordinated, timely and efficient planning.  Such uncoordinated process duplication is not seen in other countries.”

One way that mining advocates have proposed to shorten the timeline is to streamline the federal and provincial/territorial assessment processes. If all goes to plan, Carney’s proposal would do that, although some mining policy analysts have cautioned that the promise of a streamlined system only works as well as the bureaucracy administering it.

Moreover, although the plan offers an expedited review process, mining projects – like any major projects – involve consultation and accommodation of Indigenous groups as rights holders. Indigenous reaction to such a streamlined system is yet to be seen.

The prime minister’s announcement of a “one review” permitting system was also accompanied by a couple other announcements that could advance mining in Canada, such as the creation of a First Mile Fund to finance transportation infrastructure connecting energy extraction sites to rail lines and roads, and a $175 million investment in the Hudson Bay Railway and the Port of Churchill, Man., to enhance trade corridors and economic development in Canada’s Arctic and Far North. The federal government and the Province of Manitoba have taken a much keener interest in Churchill as a key point for critical mineral exports.