OTTAWA – The Liberal government is rejecting a call from the Bloc Québécois to split its marquee legislation in two and allow part of it to speed through the House of Commons this summer.
The bill — known as Bill C-5, or the free trade and labour mobility in Canada act —was introduced last Friday.
It has two parts. The first portion addresses internal trade barriers the Liberals have promised to tackle by July 1. The second part proposes to make sweeping changes to speed up approvals of major projects.
The Bloc argued the internal trade portion of the legislation could be passed relatively quickly with broad support from the House of Commons, but called for a separate study of the changes to major project reviews.
“The bill as it is now would be sent to the transport committee, whereas if it were to be split it could be sent to two different committees, the second one being environment,” Bloc deputy leader Christie Normandin said at a press conference on Monday.
Government House leader Steven MacKinnon said Wednesday the Liberals won’t split the legislation, even if that would ensure the government meets its self-imposed deadline to tackle interprovincial trade barriers.
“This is a bill that responds to economic conditions caused by the tariff war, among other things, and mobilizes premiers, mobilizes Canadians from coast to coast to coast behind projects of national significance,” MacKinnon said on his way into a Liberal caucus meeting.
The legislation would give the federal government sweeping new powers to push forward projects that have been deemed to be in the national interest.
It sets out five criteria to determine if a project is the national interest, including its likelihood of success, whether it would strengthen the country’s resiliency and advance the interests of Indigenous peoples, and whether it would contribute to economic growth in an environmentally responsible way.
The government intends to create a list of such projects and then fast-track the approval system with a goal of issuing approvals within two years, instead of the current five-year timeline.
The bill would create a new federal office to take the lead on streamlining approvals and task the intergovernmental affairs minister with overseeing the final permitting decision. It’s meant to send a signal to build investor confidence, the government said.
The proposed legislation has been criticized already by groups like Greenpeace Canada, and some have warned that there are risks in trying to shortcut environmental interests.
The minority Liberal government needs the support of at least four MPs from another party to pass the bill. It does not have a formal or informal agreement with any opposition party to pass legislation, as was the case with the NDP in the last Parliament.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has said his party will support legislation that gets new projects built — but he also said he wants the current bill amended to go even further.
On Friday, Poilievre said he wanted to meet with his caucus before saying whether Conservative MPs will vote in favour of the legislation. After Wednesday’s caucus meeting, his office said there was no update to provide.
Prime Minister Mark Carney suggested last week he would consider extending the House sitting into July to get the legislation passed. The House of Commons is scheduled to take a summer break beginning June 21.
MacKinnon said Wednesday that he has not tried to get consensus from the other parties to extend the sitting.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.
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