Carney launches ‘One Canadian Economy' Act to unify trade, approvals
Investing.com -- Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled sweeping legislation Friday aimed at accelerating the approval of infrastructure projects and removing long-standing internal trade barriers, part of a broader effort to boost Canada's economic potential amid mounting global uncertainty. The One Canadian Economy Act, a centerpiece of the Carney government's pro-growth agenda, seeks to consolidate regulatory processes and create a unified domestic market across the national landscape.
'Canada's a country that used to build big things,' Carney said at a press conference. 'But in recent decades it's become too difficult to build in this country.' To address these concerns, the bill would cut federal project approval times from five years to two by creating a one-stop permitting office and applying a 'one-project, one-review' standard to infrastructure proposals.
Projects deemed 'nation-building' by federal cabinet, such as railways, ports, pipelines, and transmission lines, would undergo streamlined assessments focused not on justification, but implementation. These proposals must satisfy at least some of five criteria, including economic benefit, Indigenous engagement, and contributions to climate goals, though officials stress these are considerations rather than strict thresholds.
The new approach was partially galvanized by concerns over regulatory paralysis that has slowed Canada's ability to bring natural resources to global markets. 'When federal agencies have examined a new project, their immediate question has been: Why?' Carney said Friday. 'With this bill, we will instead ask ourselves: How?'
The legislation also tackles internal trade barriers, which economists estimate cost tens of billions of dollars in lost productivity and economic output annually. A major provision of the bill would recognize provincial standards for goods, services and labor certification as meeting the federal benchmark, though actual interprovincial mobility will still require the cooperation of provincial governments.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has expressed skepticism over the bill's broader impact, calling the internal trade components 'a small step.' 'It's baby steps when we needed a giant leap,' Poilievre said Friday, while suggesting provinces be offered cash incentives to dismantle remaining trade barriers.
While some provinces have already commenced bilateral trade agreements, others remain hesitant. The federal government says its own contributions include the elimination of all exemptions to the Canadian Free Trade Agreement by July 1, with the broader hope that harmonization efforts will follow across jurisdictions.
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Carney launches 'One Canadian Economy' Act to unify trade, approvals
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Canada-Europe security and defence pact to be signed Monday in Brussels
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Economists see the personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy — the Fed's preferred gauge of underlying inflation — rising 0.1% in May for a third month. That would mark the tamest three-month stretch since the pandemic five years ago. US central bankers largely see the Trump administration's expanded use of tariffs putting upward pressure on prices, eventually. But their latest economic forecasts also show officials see weaker economic growth and higher unemployment this year. Fed Governor Christopher Waller on Friday told CNBC that the inflation hit from import duties is likely to be short-lived, and he sees room to resume lowering borrowing costs as soon as next month. The Fed's next policy decision will come on July 30. What Bloomberg Economics Says: 'The Fed's preferred gauge, core PCE inflation, likely rose just 2 basis points in May, a modest uptick that will offer little clarity about upside risks to inflation in coming months. 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Hamilton Spectator
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Bill C-5 passes in the House, as Carney vows to consult Indigenous groups
OTTAWA — Facing concerns and warnings of Indigenous resistance against a key part of his governing agenda, Prime Minister Mark Carney acknowledged Friday that 'more fulsome conversations are needed' to choose the development projects his government wants to fast-track through controversial new legislation, Bill C-5. Speaking moments after the bill passed third reading in the House of Commons, Carney pledged to hold meetings in the coming weeks with First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders and experts in a series of summits to 'launch the implementation of this legislation in the right way' in 'full partnership' with Indigenous communities. This will be the 'first step' in the process to choose which projects will be chosen through the new legislation for the fast-track to approval within the government's goal of two years. The Liberal government's major projects bill has passed the House of Commons thanks to help from the Conservative Party. Prime Minister Mark Carney calls the legislation the core of his government's domestic economic response to U.S. tariffs (June 20, 2025 / The Canadian Press) Carney also repeated pledges earlier this week, as the Liberal government rammed the bill through the House over the objections of some Indigenous , environmental groups and opposition parties, that the new process will respect Indigenous rights to consultation and 'free, prior and informed consent' under the United Nations Declaration to the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The government House Leader said this week they expect the bill to pass in the Senate next week. 'These projects will be built with Indigenous nations and communities. This is not an aspiration. It is the plan embedded in the bill itself,' Carney said Friday. 'We all agree that more fulsome conversations are needed to select the nation-building projects and to determine the conditions that they must fulfil. In other words, the real work begins now.' In the April 28 election, Carney's Liberals won a minority government while promising to fast-track development projects like mines, pipelines and ports to boost economic growth, make Canada a 'superpower' in clean power and fossil fuels, and reduce reliance on the United States that has imposed a series of tariffs on Canadian goods. Carney acknowledged the bill sailed through the Commons quickly, but argued Friday that speed was needed to confront the 'crisis' of the American trade war. 'This is the response. This is us being in charge of our destiny. That's why we pushed it,' Carney said. Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty — a former grand chief of Eeyou Istchee in Quebec — said the promised summits are a 'serious signal' that Indigenous communities are going to be 'at the table' in deciding how projects will be chosen under the new process. 'There have been more projects selected. It is something that we will define together,' she said. The bill passed through the House of Commons Friday in two votes, after House Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia ruled to split the legislation into two parts. All parties supported a less contentious section to lift federal barriers to trade and labour movement inside Canada. The other, more controversial part dealing with major projects also passed with Liberals and Conservatives voting en masse in favour, and Bloc Québécois, NDP and Green MPs voting against. Toronto Liberal and former cabinet minister MP Nate Erskine-Smith also voted against the national projects part of the legislation . The version of the bill now moving to the Senate came with a suite of amendments, including some that the government supported, aimed at increasing transparency and restricting some of the powers the legislation would create. This includes a provision to obtain the written consent of affected provinces and territories before the government chooses to fast-track a given project, and to ensure the new process that the law would create respects ethics rules and can't override legislation like the Indian Act. The changes also created a new requirement for the government to publish a suite of information about the projects — from the contents of any studies and assessments about their impacts, to all recommendations about them from the civil service — at least 30 days before it officially puts them into the fast-track process. Business groups like the Canadian Chamber of Commerce have also supported the legislation, arguing that a thicket of government regulations has delayed major projects, and that there is now an urgent need to build new infrastructure for energy, critical minerals and other sectors. But Bill C-5 remains controversial, including with predictions this week from some Indigenous leaders that it could inspire resistance and protest like the 2012 'Idle No More' movement because of a lack of consultation on the new powers. MPs have also condemned the national projects part of the legislation as a troubling expansion of power that risks trampling environmental protections and Indigenous rights. After the amendments Friday, the bill retained its proposal to allow the cabinet to choose projects to fast-track based on 'any factor' it considers relevant, and to skirt laws like the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and Species at Risk Act when reviewing projects to speed up. 'This legislation is an abomination and one that will be a stain on the reputation of this government and of our prime minister. As a first effort to lead this country, it's a bad effort,' said Green Leader Elizabeth May. Bloc MP Sébastien Lemire accused the government of reproducing the 'condescending and colonialist spirit' of the last century towards Canada's Indigenous Peoples. And Don Davies, the NDP's interim leader, alleged the bill creates 'Henry VIII' powers that allow the government 'to override laws by decree. 'It guts environmental protections, undermines workers and threatens Indigenous rights,' Davies said. 'This bill will end up in court.'
