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A new wave of legislation is reshaping how projects break ground across Canada, but speed could come at a cost for developers. From Ottawa to Victoria to Queen’s Park, legislative changes are changing how major projects deemed “critical” to the national interest, ranging from mining to schools and from public transit to real estate, get the green light.  

For leaders and developers, this fast-tracking opens doors, but also raises the stakes, with new expectations for transparency, engagement, and trust-building.

Opportunities

“Build big, build bold, and build now.” – Prime Minister Mark Carney  

With the recent passage of Federal Bill C-5, British Columbia’s Bill 15, and Ontario’s Bill 5, governments are signalling their intent to support projects that matter most to Canada’s economic and social future by getting shovels in the ground significantly faster. In a country that ranked second-to-last in GDP per capita growth in the last decade amongst all OECD countries, this momentum is needed to not only catch-up, but also to get ahead.  

Federally, the Building Canada Act simplifies approvals for nationally significant projects, aiming for decisions within two years, an improvement over the current system, where projects have to undergo multiple approval processes with overlapping scopes. The goal: greater certainty, less bureaucracy, and more efficiency in delivery.

In B.C., the Infrastructure Projects Act empowers the government and the new Ministry of Infrastructure to speed up provincially significant projects. The primary scope of the act is to speed up projects that fall under the province’s jurisdiction, like schools, hospitals, etc. The secondary objective is to streamline approval of certain private sector projects like real estate developments, mines, and energy projects. Such projects would potentially receive exemptions from environmental assessments and certain municipal constraints. A public consultation process is currently underway to evaluate how the act will be implemented.

In Ontario, Bill 5 creates special economic zones where provincial laws and municipal bylaws can be suspended, to ultimately cut existing approval timelines in half for critical projects.  

The momentum is clear: faced with economic headwinds and an unstable trade landscape, Canada is positioning itself as more competitive, predictable, and attractive to investment.

Risks

“I think we’re going to see more First Nations turning to the courts” - Leah George-Wilson, former chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation.

While those legislative reforms have the potential to unleash economic growth at an unprecedented pace, they have sparked strong opposition from Indigenous leaders, community and environmental groups, as well as local governments. Core concerns to be aware of include:

• Indigenous rights: Critics of Bill C-5 call it “colonization in 2025” and warn it could undermine Canada’s reconciliation objectives by sidelining self-determination rights and co-creation on Indigenous lands.
• Environmental protections: Environmental groups argue that fast-tracked approvals risk incomplete assessments and significant ecological impacts.
• Local autonomy: B.C.’s Bill 15 allows the provincial cabinet to remove local barriers to projects, including municipal bylaws, raising concerns at the community level, as well as amongst interest groups such as UBCM.  

The message from communities is clear : speed without partnership will lead to resistance, not progress. If projects end up on the fast-tracking path, critics have said that they will turn to the courts and the press, which means that developers risk higher scrutiny and reputational damage. This could potentially delay projects far more than the existing approval processes.

What You Need to Know

Developers should perceive fast-tracking as a double-edged sword. The benefits are matched by the heightened need for community outreach, reconciliation commitments, and environmental initiatives.

In practice, this means:

• Building trust at the community level before pursuing a fast-tracking opportunity.
• Embedding reconciliation and co-creation with Indigenous communities into project design.
• Conduct stakeholder mapping early and ensure that transparent communication channels are opened and maintained.  
• Being proactive in addressing all community concerns.

The bottom line: Faster approvals do not remove the need for social license; they make it an unavoidable step. In this new legislative landscape, your ability to deliver on time will depend as much on your communication strategy as on your engineering plans.

If your project stands to benefit from any of these new fast-track laws, now is the time to map out the strategy that will protect your timeline as well as your reputation. Our team of experts can help you anticipate risks and seize opportunities so you can carry your project across the finish line as efficiently and flawlessly as possible.

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