On June 6th the federal government tabled Bill C-5, An Act to enact the Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada Act and the Building Canada Act.

Pitched as a response to trade and tariff pressures,  Bill C-5, would give a designated federal minister sweeping powers to deem certain projects to be “in the national interest” and thereby exempted from not only federal impact assessment also permitting requirements under several environment-related federal laws.

Bill C-5 would fast-track projects, granting speedy approval through a single permit.

Learn more:

• Recording of the June 16 proceedings of the Senate Committee of the Whole, including presentations from the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and Manitoba Métis Federation, flagging major concerns with Bill C-5 (at 2:40)
• Ecojustice Analysis of Bill C-5
• Canadian Environmental Law Association blog on Bill C-5; CELA’s June 18th letter to members of Parliament and the Senate
• Bill C-5: Building Canada Act, or the Anti-Democracy, Nation-Dividing Act?, West Coast Environmental Law
• Bill C-5: Move Fast and Make Things, or Move Fast and Break Things?, David V. Wright and Martin Olszynski, University of Calgary Faculty of Law
• Chiefs of Ontario issue urgent warning on Bill C-5, June 14th
• Assembly of First Nations National Virtual Forum on Bill C-5, June 16th HERE
• “Bill C-5 and the Building Canada Act: Is this a case of haste makes waste?“, analysis by Alberta Environmental Law Centre
• Report from West Coast Environmental Law on environmental disasters that have occurred in Canada in the context of weak environmental laws, impact assessment processes or regulatory oversight (June 2025) HERE