As we debate ideas on how to strengthen Canada’s economy and make it more resilient to external threats, we should be prioritizing getting major infrastructure projects built without further delay. The sooner these nation-building projects get underway, the sooner Canadians can reap the rewards through new trading partnerships, good jobs, and a more stable economy. It’s more critical than ever in the face of current economic uncertainty.
Our industry association, the Progressive Contractors Association, has launched the Let’s Get Building campaign during this federal election to draw attention to this and urge parties to focus once again on actually building major projects. Our national association is made up of leading construction companies that build Canada’s major infrastructure and capital projects. Our members employ more than 40,000 unionized construction workers.
While there are many challenges facing Canada today, perhaps the biggest is that Canada isn’t building.
The current federal and provincial regulatory framework, most of which came into place over the last decade, makes it unlikely that Canada will build the energy infrastructure needed to get to new markets.
When the Liberal government transformed the regulatory regime with the Impact Assessment Act, formerly known as C-69, it claimed that “Project reviews would benefit from reduced timelines.” Nothing could be further from the truth.
An analysis from the Canada West Foundation in 2023 found that projects languished in reviews, with step one of a four-step review taking up to 693 days in one case. Since the new regime took effect, 25 proponents have submitted projects for review. However, all of these projects remained stuck in the initial two phases of the four-step process after several years.
This was not the case in the preceding decade. A similar assessment of the previous approval process under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act found project timelines averaging 3.5 years for approval. While far from perfect, it did allow projects to get approved and built.
It’s part of a broader regulatory chokehold: if a project does manage to make it through the Impact Assessment regime, the Liberal government’s tanker ban prevents Canadian energy from ever getting to new markets.
Back to building
Don’t let it be said that Canada can’t build energy infrastructure. In fact, the decade prior to 2015 saw several projects built. This included:
- Kinder Morgan’s Anchor Loop increased Trans Mountain pipeline capacity between Alberta and British Columbia by 40,000 barrels per day. It received its National Energy Board approval in 2006 and was in service in 2008.
- TC Energy’s original Keystone pipeline converted an existing gas line to crude oil with a further 370-kilometre new pipeline, and created 435,000 barrels per day capacity. It received National Energy Board approval in 2007 and was in service in 2010.
- TransCanada’s Cushing expansion, with 156,000 barrels per day of new capacity for Keystone, received national Energy Board approval in 2008 and was in service in 2010.
- Enbridge’s Line 9B reversal project received National Energy Board approval in 2014 and was in service in 2015. Its 300,000 barrels per day capacity helped replace foreign oil.
- Enbridge’s Alberta Clipper, received its National Energy Board approval in 2008 and was in service in 2010, and also received a U.S. Presidential Permit as it crosses the border.
- The first phase of Enbridge’s Clipper Expansion Project added 120,000 barrels per day of expanded capacity. It received National Energy Board approval in 2013 and was in service the same year.
- The second phase of Enbridge’s Clipper Expansion Project added 230,000 further barrels per day of expanded capacity. It received National Energy Board approval in 2014 and was in service the same year.
- Enbridge’s Line 4 Extension Project created 880,000 barrels per day of new capacity. It was approved by the National Energy Board in 2008 and in service as of 2009.
- Enbridge’s Edmonton to Hardisty project added 570,000 barrels per day. It received National Energy Board approval in 2015 and was in service the same year.
The above projects showed that Canada could build. It is why, ten years ago, there were multiple national energy projects put forward for review: Trans Mountain Expansion, Northern Gateway, Energy East, and Keystone XL.
Last year we celebrated that the Trans Mountain expansion was finally built and operational. However, its path was difficult, with the B.C. government vowing to use “every tool in the toolbox” to stop it. Ultimately, proponent Kinder Morgan abandoned the project and Ottawa bought it to oversee completion.
It cannot be the status quo that projects only proceed under government ownership after private sector abandonment.
TC Energy (then TransCanada) withdrew Energy East after regulatory uncertainty, Keystone XL fell after its U.S. approval was overturned, while Enbridge’s Northern Gateway was overturned by a cabinet order, fulfilling Justin Trudeau’s 2015 campaign promise to kill the project. In 2020, Teck Resources also abandoned its Frontier mine project.
Opportunities for growth
In addition to returning to predictable timelines and criteria for approvals, there are other opportunities for growth.
A constructive trend in Canada across our industry has been respect for Indigenous engagement. Few, if any, projects in the current era will proceed without sound Indigenous engagement. Getting this right means a positive demonstration of community and Indigenous engagement, of which Canada should be a leader.
One such example is Alberta’s Indigenous Opportunities Corporation, a provincial Crown corporation that facilitates Indigenous investment in major projects by offering up to $3 billion in loan guarantees. This initiative enhances access to capital, improves lending conditions, and makes financing more cost-effective.
Canada’s challenges don’t stop at natural resource projects. We face challenges in broader public infrastructure as well. Examples include critical infrastructure needed to develop the Ring of Fire (access roads and rail), expanding commuter rail systems, and developing tide-water and land-based ports.
Last year, the provincial governments of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba expanded collaboration on economic corridors, enhancing the efficient movement of exports and imports to and from markets around the world. Such collaborations, expanded nationally, could solve Canada’s resource bottleneck through pre-negotiated right-of-ways for transmission of electricity, oil, and gas.
Anti-worker policies are counterproductive
The current era of difficulties continues right down to challenges facing workers. At the federal level, the Government of Canada is about to abandon apprentices by shutting down the Canada Apprenticeship Incentive Grant and Canada Apprenticeship Completion Grant. Given persistent challenges in attaining adequately skilled workers, it boggles the mind that this is where the federal government chose to find savings in public spending expenditures.
Over 1 million grants have been issued since the program launched in 2007. According to the government’s own program review last year, it helped address a key challenge for new apprentices: financial barriers to apprenticeship are greatest during the first two years, driven by the cost of tools and the partial loss of income during technical training.
At the provincial level, the B.C. government has instituted so-called “Community Benefits Agreements” that exclude workers who are not part of the NDP government’s favoured unions. Only the government-approved Building Trades Unions (BTUs) have the exclusive right to work on taxpayer-funded projects. All workers are required to join these unions and pay dues, despite the fact that BTUs represent only 15 percent of British Columbia’s construction workforce.
Taken together, all of these policies are indicative of an anti-growth, anti-worker policy mindset that contributes to the complexities of getting critical infrastructure built in this country.
What has transpired over this last decade simply cannot continue.
Let’s demonstrate to the world that our resource-rich country can green light projects in the national interest through a clear, timely, and objective approvals process. Let’s get building to instil a sense of strength and national pride. This is our moment to prove that we have the talent and determination to build a stronger Canada.
Let’s get building.
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