OTTAWA—Prime Minister Mark Carney is slashing red tape to expedite major projects like high speed rail, hydroelectricity grids and east-west pipelines, and said premiers have agreed on a plan to work with Ottawa to eliminate all interprovincial trade barriers.
To counter the threat of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, Carney and the premiers on Friday agreed to streamline paperwork required for building big projects by ending duplicative federal and provincial environmental assessments.
As well, the prime minister will temporarily waive the one-week wait for employment insurance benefits and extend tax deadlines for businesses to offset the impact of a slowing economy due to Trump’s trade war.
Carney, who is calling an election Sunday, will table federal legislation by July 1 to define the “nation-building” projects eligible for fast-tracking.
“One project, one review. It’s time to build,” said Carney.
“Together, we can give ourselves more than any foreign nation can ever take away,” the prime minister said.
“We can more than offset the effects of U.S. tariffs by eliminating internal trade barriers alone,” he added. Carney estimated it could increase the size of the Canadian economy by $250 billion, or the equivalent of more than $6,000 for every single Canadian.
Premier Doug Ford, chair of the Council of the Federation, said it will jump-start “investments into large projects like pipelines, rail, ports, airports, the road to the Ring of Fire” mining motherlode in Northern Ontario.
Ford noted the first ministers will push to scrap interprovincial trade barriers.
“We’re putting it as our first piece of legislation on April 14. I’m very confident other provinces and territories are going to move along with us, because if they don’t, they’re going to see extreme pressure amongst their own people,” he said.
“There’s massive opportunities. It will increase our GDP by four per cent. Thank God we’re doing it. We’ve been trying to do this for decades,” said Ford.
“We’re getting rid of all exemptions. We’re going to lead the way. A few others have committed to that. So the rules have changed. When we’re under attack by one person and economic war, all the rules have changed.”
Carney, a former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor who succeeded Justin Trudeau on March 9, said the country must improve its productivity.
Carney, who campaigned for the Liberal leadership on a vow to ensure Canada has “one economy not 13,” believes eliminating barriers is essential with a potential recession on the horizon.
“We are in a crisis, a crisis not of our own making,” he said.
Mindful of the looming economic tumult due to the trade war, Carney said the government would temporarily waive the one-week wait for employment insurance benefits “so that workers don’t have to exhaust severance pay before collecting EI.”
Ottawa will also help businesses by temporarily deferring corporate income tax payments and GST and HST remittances.
In another significant move Friday, amid Trump’s trade threats and annexation musings, Quebec Premier François Legault said he is now willing to accept an east-west energy pipeline through his province, on condition that any private sector-led project has “social acceptance.”
“I’m open to these projects, however, we need social acceptability,” said Legault. “What I see currently in Quebec is with the threats from Mr. Trump, the opinion of Quebecers is changing with regard to these pipelines,” he added in French and in English.
The acceleration of eliminating the trade barriers was achieved in part after Chrystia Freeland, who Carney last week named internal trade minister, pressed many of the provincial leaders to act with urgency.
Ford stressed “we need a united Canada — that’s absolutely critical.”
“President Trump doesn’t respect weakness. He respects strength, and that’s what we need to do. We need to unite,” he said.
In February, the federal government dropped its own regulations that were seen as trade impediments.
Legault said it is important for Canada to take full advantage of its domestic market of 41 million people as it loses “a bit the access to a 340-million people market.”
Still, he said that as Ottawa pushes for streamlining of the movement of goods and services across provincial boundaries, “we must respect provincial jurisdictions. And we also have to take into consideration the future of French in Quebec.”
Carney believes that in light of Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs which violate the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade deal, and threats against Canada’s dairy, automaking, and other sectors, and has said he would only meet with Trump if the two countries could work toward a more comprehensive approach to bilateral trade — a vow he repeated Friday night.
Legault agreed that it must be “a global negotiation, not piece by piece negotiation. Right now, Mr. Trump doesn’t respect the agreement between Canada, US and Mexico, especially on steel and aluminum,” he said.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who attended the meeting virtually, told reporters beforehand that she wants more clarity from Carney about whether he will truly ease barriers to oil and gas projects.
“There just needs to be some clarity about whether or not we’re seeing a true change of direction or whether it’s just a continuation of the same old policies with the same ministers in the same places. And I don’t think we have clarity on that.”
Also before the meeting New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt proposed an Atlantic Canada free-trade zone for goods and services, writing to her fellow Atlantic premiers that the east coast provinces should “work freely and seamlessly within one Atlantic market.”
However Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston suggested he’d prefer a national approach to a regional one.
