The federal government tabled new legislation Monday to make sweeping changes to environmental and labour rules, in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s latest effort to remove what he sees as barriers to development in pursuit of his pro-growth agenda.
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he → table → agenda
Carney said last week that the bill was part of a legislative program that would include some of the “most consequential” policy changes in decades, as his Liberal government grapples with the ongoing trade war with Donald Trump’s United States and tries to bolster the economy through deeper commerce and stronger relations with other countries and the European Union.
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government → say → countries
Government officials briefing journalists about the bill, C-39, said its wide-ranging changes are aimed at creating trade corridors and better-functioning ports to boost exports, and to simplify the federal assessment process so new projects like mines, pipelines, ports and transport infrastructure can be reviewed with the goal of a decision within one year.
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projects → brief → year
Among the environmental changes include new rules to allow companies to pay offset fees if their projects harm fish habitats and new ministerial powers to weaken conditions-of-approval if the federal cabinet deems it in the “public interest.”
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it → include → interest
The government also wants to allow construction to begin before a project is approved if the government deems it in the public interest, and the creation of special regions where proposed developments can be streamlined.
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developments → want → regions
The new bill is also meant to improve labour rules to add “guardrails” to the use of controversial powers that allow the cabinet to intervene to stop strikes and lockouts without passing back-to-work legislation through Parliament, officials said.
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officials → mean → Parliament
“This legislation will give our country the tools we need to build more, better, and more efficiently,” Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon told reporters Monday afternoon.
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MacKinnon → give → reporters
Labour Minister Patty Hajdu defended the labour changes and argued they would make it harder for the government to invoke Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, which has drawn union backlash over concerns it hampers workers’ right to strike.
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it → defend → right
The federal government has used that section — which the NDP wants to remove — to end work stoppages repeatedly in recent years, including to end an Air Canada flight attendants strike in August 2025 and labour disruptions at Canada’s two main railway companies in 2024.
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NDP → use → 2024
“These changes mean that, as many people have called for, the labour minister must meet a higher bar before intervention is possible with this tool,” Hajdu said Monday.
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Hajdu → mean → tool
“We’re actually strengthening their rights,” Hajdu claimed, before stating that “with that right comes the responsibility” for unions in certain sectors to be striving for a resolution, especially in sectors that are crucial to the economy.
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that → strengthen → economy
In proposing possible changes during consultations earlier this year, the government had alluded to recent strikes and lockouts at ports in Vancouver and Montreal, as well as simultaneous work stoppages at Canada’s two major railroads.
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government → propose → railroads
“Everyone wants, including unions, to work in workplaces that are functional,” Hajdu said.
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Hajdu → want → workplaces
And we believe that we can do better as a country.”
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we → believe → country
Before the legislation was introduced, environmental and labour groups and opposition parties raised concerns about some of the changes that the government floated for public consultation earlier this year — most of which appeared as expected in the tabled bill.
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most → introduce → bill
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet told reporters his party shares worries about environmental deregulation and workers’ rights, and accused the government of using the trade crisis with the U.S. to bring in major changes that will benefit big businesses long after Trump leaves office.
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Trump → tell → office
“It’s simply like breaking the window and telling those businesses, ‘Come and help yourselves,’” said Blanchet.
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Blanchet → ’ → yourselves
NDP MP Don Davies predicted “an appalling attack on labour” if his expectations for the legislation are correct.
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expectations → predict → legislation
In a statement before the legislation was tabled, Pascal Chan, vice-president of strategic policy and supply chains at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, hailed the expected creation of new “dispute resolution tools” for labour disputes and the preservation of controversial government powers to end strikes and lockouts when “the wider economy is at risk.”
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economy → table → risk
The goal of the changes, the government has said, is to make it “simpler” to review mines, ports, pipelines, nuclear facilities, airports and other proposed developments so that decisions can be made in one year instead of five or more.
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decisions → say → year
Monday’s bill would amend the Impact Assessment Act to implement new, shorter review time frames — but with the possibility of timeline extensions if needed, officials said.
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officials → amend → extensions
It would also create special zones called “regions of national interest” where approvals for projects can be “streamlined” in certain areas, and codify recent changes so that cross-border oil pipelines, gas-fired power plants, oilsands facilities and other projects would no longer be subject to the existing federal impact assessment process, officials said.
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officials → create → process
The new law will also create a government body that makes sure individual Indigenous groups are consulted through a single process for each proposed project under review, instead of several processes with various government departments, officials said.
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officials → create → departments
Single projects would also no longer need permits from different parts of the government, but will receive a single decision issued by the federal environment minister.
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projects → need → minister
The officials defended the changes by echoing Liberal government statements that they don’t want to reduce standards for environmental protection and Indigenous rights, but want businesses to have more confidence to put money into projects in Canada.
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businesses → defend → Canada
With regards to labour rules, the government wants to a new power to appoint special mediators to try and resolve labour disputes before a strike or lockout occurs, and extend the time frame from 60 to 90 days when a conciliator is called in to help resolve a dispute before a work stoppage is allowed to happen.
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stoppage → want → dispute
Ottawa also wants to create new regulations to force the start of collective bargaining sooner in certain circumstances, such as if the previous round of talks resulted in a work stoppage.
And it wants to add rules around the use of Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, including a new requirement for the government to conclude a work stoppage is harming Canada’s national interest based on an assessment by the Labour Department, and whether the impact of a work disruption is reaching “well-beyond the bargaining parties,” the officials said.
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officials → want → parties
Hajdu said Monday that the changes will increase transparency ahead of any potential use of Section 107, and that consideration of its use will now have to include effects that aren’t just economic, including the Supreme Court-recognized right to strike.
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that → say → right
The Aporia
