{"id":67380,"date":"2025-12-12T11:04:55","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T19:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/energi.media\/?p=67380"},"modified":"2025-12-12T11:04:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T19:04:55","slug":"building-canada-act-gives-cabinet-radical-new-powers-expert-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/energi.media\/news\/building-canada-act-gives-cabinet-radical-new-powers-expert-warns\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Canada Act Gives Cabinet \u2018Radical\u2019 New Powers, Expert Warns"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was published by The Energy Mix<\/a> on Dec. 3, 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n

by Bob Weber<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The year 1539 was a good one to be King of England.<\/p>\n

Henry VIII, the reigning monarch, had a free hand on royal marriages, state religion, church property, and such. But those pesky Parliamentarians didn\u2019t always move as quickly or as agreeably as he would have liked.<\/p>\n

So he had his fixer Thomas Cromwell come up with the\u00a0Statute of Proclamations,<\/em>\u00a0which gave Henry the power, exercised through decree, to alter any law, with those decrees having the same force as if Parliament had voted for them.<\/p>\n

It was not popular with the commoners. The\u00a0Act<\/em>\u00a0was repealed in 1547 and history\u2019s verdict has been harsh. One 18th-century jurist said it \u201cwas calculated to introduce the most despotic tyranny,\u201d and it is still considered the height of Henry\u2019s will to power.<\/p>\n

But legislation giving the whip hand to the executive branch of government, which scholars call King Henry the Eighth clauses, is still around. One such clause is prominent in the Carney government\u2019s new\u00a0Building Canada Act<\/em>\u00a0(BCA). It\u2019s a major reason observers say the legislation marks a big shift in power to the prime minister and cabinet and away from the courts, Parliament\u2014and the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cCabinet, with cabinet secrecy, can pass a regulation that changes a law duly passed by Parliament,\u201d Martin Olszynski, a University of Calgary resource law professor who\u00a0testified<\/a>\u00a0before a Senate committee on the bill, told\u00a0The Energy Mix<\/em>\u00a0in an interview. \u201cThat\u2019s really radical.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Building Canada Act<\/em>\u00a0was hustled through Parliament last summer in less than a month. It was presented as a response to the perceived need to speed up environmental approvals for large industrial developments, responding in turn to the undoubted threats to the Canadian economy posed by the current United States government. Here, briefly, is how it works.<\/p>\n

Project proponents who feel their idea is \u201cnation-building\u201d can apply to the Major Projects Office, a new agency created by the legislation. That office measures the proposal against\u00a0five goals<\/a>, including \u201cwhether a project will contribute to clean growth and addressing climate change,\u201d according to the recent federal budget.<\/p>\n

The office is to ensure both First Nations and provincial governments have been adequately consulted. It then makes a recommendation to the minister of internal trade. After 30 days to ensure the provinces and territories are onside, the minister can then declare the proposal a Project of National Interest, (PONI). Dawn Farrell, CEO of the Major Projects Office,\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0a House committee she hopes a decision on designation will take four or five months. The discussion will then change from whether to proceed, to how.<\/p>\n

Who Wouldn\u2019t Want a PONI?<\/h2>\n

Supporters say the legislation eliminates the need for companies to answer questions twice, once at an environmental assessment and again when they request permits from federal departments for specific actions\u2014say, building a stream crossing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHalf the job is getting through environmental assessment, getting your capital together, and announcing the project,\u201d\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0Dave Nikolejsin, an adviser at the McCarthy T\u00e9trault law firm and the former provincial deputy minister who oversaw natural gas development in British Columbia. \u201cThe other half, and sometimes the tougher half, is actually getting it built.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking on a podcast by the ARC Energy Research Institute, Nikolejsin said \u201cWhat drives proponents crazy is they will go through massive expense and time to do a baseline study as part of an environmental assessment. Then they have to do it again when they turn to get their permits.\u201d<\/p>\n

A blog from the law firm Bennett Jones, which often represents fossil energy companies,\u00a0made a similar point<\/a>: \u201cBy cutting red tape and coordinating project approvals more efficiently, the MPO represents a significant effort by the federal government toward ensuring that Canadian infrastructure can be advanced to attract investors and boost the competitiveness of Canada\u2019s project execution timing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stacking the Deck<\/h2>\n

Well and good. Environmental groups and concerned citizens aren\u2019t any keener than businesses to spend time and money in court or endless regulatory hearings. But observers suggest the\u00a0Building Canada Act<\/em>\u00a0has stacked the deck, dealing aces to those in power and jokers to everyone else.<\/p>\n

\u201cParliament has given cabinet really unprecedented power to exempt projects from environmental laws, in effect giving cabinet what are effectively law-making powers,\u201d Anna Johnston, staff lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law, told\u00a0The Mix<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Pierre-Alain Bujold of the Privy Council Office disputed this characterization in an email to\u00a0The Mix<\/em>. \u201cDesignation under the Act does not exempt projects from federal laws listed,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIt provides upfront clarity and coordination, allowing projects to advance while maintaining protections for the environment and Indigenous rights, with reviews occurring simultaneously rather than consecutively\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce reviews are complete, the Minister responsible for the Act (the Minister of One Canadian Economy) issues a single, binding set of public conditions for the project, including mitigation measures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, questions begin with how PONIs are designated. Most projects won\u2019t be.<\/p>\n

Only a small minority of resource projects in Canada trigger a federal assessment. For those that might, Ottawa\u2019s five criteria to determine which ones go through the magic gate are extremely\u00a0broad<\/a>. They ask if the project will improve Canada\u2019s autonomy and security, if it will bring economic \u201cor other\u201d benefits, the likelihood of success, impact on First Nations, and environmental and climate effects. Opponents say they are so woolly that\u2014except on the issue of First Nations rights\u2014it would be extremely hard to challenge a project designation in court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe act was designed to give huge discretion to federal cabinet,\u201d said Johnston. \u201cIt has such broad discretionary powers that I think the possibility of successful legal challenge would be difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Environmental Assessment. Sort Of.<\/h2>\n

A designated PONI would still be subject to an environmental assessment. Sort of.<\/p>\n

Before the\u00a0Act<\/em>, proponents were required to go through a six-month planning period before beginning their assessment. \u201cThat was an avenue for public input,\u201d Johnston said. \u201cThat was where we were going to figure out what questions we were going to ask.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, that\u2019s gone, she said. \u201cIf you\u2019re a PONI, you have to go through an impact assessment, but you start at the assessment phase, you don\u2019t start at the planning phase.\u201d<\/p>\n

The planning period did sometimes spawn the kind of litigation that created crazy-making delays, but Olszynski told\u00a0The Mix\u00a0<\/em>that dropping it shifts power significantly. \u201cRemoving that six-month planning period puts the responsibility for setting the terms of reference exclusively in the hands of the proponent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Government documents don\u2019t address how reviews will be designed. They only\u00a0stipulate<\/a>\u00a0they will occur. \u201cProjects will continue to be subject to all regulatory review processes that would ordinarily apply to the project.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BCA hobbles environmental assessment and public involvement in other ways. Project proponents have been required by law to evaluate their proposals through certain lenses\u2014consideration of cumulative effects, for example. Whether those lenses have been donned are often at the heart of legal disputes.<\/p>\n

But PONI projects are \u201cdeemed\u201d to have already met such requirements\u2014even if we don\u2019t know whether they have or not. And once something is deemed, it\u2019s done, immune from judicial review.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we have any semblance of environmental law in this country, it\u2019s because the courts have pushed that,\u201d Olszynski said. \u201cThe fact they are being squeezed out of this space is not good.\u201d<\/p>\n

And if regulations are violated, thanks to our old friend King Henry, cabinet can simply alter them. \u201cCabinet can make a regulation exempting a project from any of the environmental laws,\u201d said Johnston. Hearings may still be held, but the outcome is predetermined.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a question of how, not whether,\u201d said Olszynski.<\/p>\n

Still, King Henry has his supporters. Nikolejsin sees the mechanism of deemed approval as \u201csomething huge (the BCA) has going for it.\u201d As he sees it, that\u2019s the scrubber which will scour away duplication and delay: \u201cIf you get through enough gates, whatever that\u2019s going to look like, everything else is supposed to become about expediting things like permits.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are still some checks. Safety regulations from the Canadian Energy Regulator and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission aren\u2019t subject to alteration. The BCA requires provincial consent for projects that concern exclusive provincial jurisdiction. And cabinet can remove a project\u2019s PONI designation if, say, it\u2019s deemed to ask for too much deeming.<\/p>\n

Is This Legal?<\/h2>\n

You may ask yourself: is any of this legal? Well, maybe. Neither the Constitution nor common law guarantees public input into regulatory matters.<\/p>\n

Or maybe not. Johnston said health and safety issues could provide grounds for constitutional challenges. As well, previous court rulings have found the government must consider all relevant information in regulatory decisions, something the BCA may inhibit.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if the government went in and changed the regulations, that wouldn\u2019t change the court rulings,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re in a legal grey area.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Quebec Environmental Law Centre is challenging the BCA in Quebec Superior Court. \u201cThe\u00a0Act<\/em>\u00a0allows an excessive encroachment on provincial powers and delegates too much power to the federal government such that the population and the courts lose their ability to effectively control government decisions,\u201d lawyer Marc Bishai told\u00a0The Mix.<\/em><\/p>\n

He said that while the BCA requires Ottawa to consult with provinces, that doesn\u2019t mean provincial concerns will be heeded. \u201cConsultation is one thing, but it can be set aside.\u201d The\u00a0Act<\/em>\u00a0also allows provinces to delegate powers to the federal government, something the Constitution forbids, he added.<\/p>\n

Finally, he argues King Henry VIII has no place in a modern democracy. \u201cBy removing the levers that usually exist to control government decisions, this\u00a0Act<\/em>\u00a0puts at risk the ability of courts to effectively verify whether those government decisions are legal,\u201d he said. \u201cThat power of judicial review is protected by the Constitution. The ability of Parliament to reduce or set aside that role of the courts is limited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, it\u2019s early days for the BCA. So far, the government has only referred proposals to the Major Projects Office for PONI consideration, 11 of them at last count. As yet, there are no actual PONIs in the stable and no one knows what the process will actually look like. Farrell\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0the House committee that she expects no more than one or two projects will become PONIs. Still, she added that her office has received 500 applications and the Globe and Mail reported there are 32 projects on the potential list\u2014a reminder that, with a law that hands such open-ended power to cabinet, anything could happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow it\u2019s going to be implemented fundamentally depends on who\u2019s in power,\u201d said Olszynski. \u201cYou could do radical things with this bill, if a government wanted to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Somewhere, King Henry is smiling.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article was published by The Energy Mix on Dec. 3, 2025. by Bob Weber The year 1539 was a good one to be King of England. 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