Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced his plan to approve resource projects rapidly and cut the red tape preventing developers from kickstarting vital energy projects.
Conservatives released a video pledging to create a “one and done” approval rule for resource projects.
The plan would create a “one point of contact” for businesses attempting to have projects approved by the government, end the requirements for multiple environmental reviews, and reduce wait times for new projects from 17 years to a maximum of one year.
“Resources are what made this country, and they ought to make us the richest nation on earth,” Poilievre said in the video. “Yet Canada’s GDP per capita has grown a measly 0.5% over the last 10 years. It has been the lost liberal decade of Trudeau-Carney.”
He said resource projects have been “kept in the ground” by the Liberals, singling out Liberal Leader Mark Carney and his cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault. Poilievre said projects currently in limbo due to Liberal policies would have “unleashed potential” but instead have been “entangled” by government regulation.
His proposed “one and done” plan would mean resource developers will have to apply to a single government entity, one point of contact, rather than the multitude of ministries and government agencies they currently have to wade through.
“It now takes 17 years to get a mine approved through the thicket of permits, improvements, and regulatory processes. The average time to complete a mine is nearly 25% longer in Canada than in Australia, and 40% longer than in the United States,” he said. “The difference? Australia and the U.S. work with—rather than against—those who build major projects. Is it any surprise, therefore, that the Australian GDP per capita grew 16 times faster than Canada’s, and America’s grew 40 times faster than Canada’s? Not at all.”
Poilievre also vowed that each company would submit one environmental review per project. He said companies currently have to submit multiple reviews, which often duplicate information, leading to a production standstill.
“We will ensure that all of those reviews are collapsed into a single effective review that we partner with other levels of government to agree upon,” he said.
He also pledged that wait times for new resource project approvals would take a maximum of one year to hear back, but the goal would be for the process to be complete in six months.
“No more delays, no more uncertainty, no more caps on Canadian growth and ambition,” he said at a press conference Monday.
Poilievre said the new direction will “get government out of the way” and grant permission to resource developers to build, move, dig and fix things in Canada.
“This will unleash powerful paychecks for our welders, pipe fitters, carpenters and countless other invaluable trades,” he said. “It will generate the necessary critical minerals that will enrich our country, pour extra revenues into government coffers to fund schools, roads, and hospitals, and allow us to become more independent and self-reliant—standing on our own two feet and standing up to the Americans.”
During the press conference in Terrace, B.C. on Monday, he also pledged to work with companies and First Nations to rapidly approve 10 mining and liquid natural gas pipeline projects, in a move he said would create thousands of jobs and double resource output.
He vowed to approve four projects in Ontario, two in Quebec, a gold and silver mine in Newfoundland, LNG expansion in B.C., a mine in Alberta and a uranium mine in Saskatchewan.
Poilievre has also pledged to scrap the Liberal “no-new-pipelines” act, Bill C-69.
In a similar vein Poilievre has also pledged to cut government “red tape” by 25 per cent and introduce a law that requires two regulations be cut for every regulation added.
“In total, government red tape costs businesses at least $51 billion annually, and that doesn’t even account for the damage caused by regulations that block major projects like pipelines, mines, and other critical projects. The result?” Conservatives said in an email. “Canada has bled $460 billion in investment—money that has fled south to the United States that should be creating jobs and powerful paycheques here in Canada.”
When asked if Poilievre’s plan was too little, too late, as governments around the world are well ahead of Canada’s LNG production now, Poilievre sarcastically thanked the Liberals for putting Canada in an uncompetitive situation.
“We’re not too late. There’s still going to be massive demand for LNG because it is the cheapest, one of the cheapest and cleanest ways to power an electrical grid without coal,” he said. “If we move now—if we reject a fourth Liberal term and elect a new Conservative government that will rapidly approve major projects like LNG in Canada, including Part Two, LNG Québec, and others—then we can get our gas into the world.”