Prime Minister Mark Carney is internationally praised for his diplomatic efforts and leadership in global issues such as climate change and human rights. However, domestically, criticism arises over the Building Canada Strong Act, a 243-page omnibus bill that accelerates project reviews and permits to one year while allowing government discretion on which laws apply to specific projects deemed regions of national interest. The bill was presented with limited time for journalists to review it, raising concerns about transparency and accountability in its drafting and implementation.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-22,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
On the world stage, he dazzles.
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he → dazzle → stage
Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks eloquently about shared values of democracy, addressing climate change, fighting for human rights, and walks his talk of like-minded countries banding together to preserve the rules-based international order.
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countries → speak → order
Whether its penning an op-ed in the Financial Times to announce Partners for Multilateralism with the presidents of Brazil, Kenya and the European Council, or sounding the alarm at the World Economic Forum in Davos, or at the European Parliament in Strasburg, Carney has made Canadians proud.
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Canadians → pen → Strasburg
At home, he is praised for his stance against U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats.
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he → praise → threats
Because of the current political realities — and Carney’s capacity to lead — a significant majority back his agenda, recent byelections saw the Liberals win all three seats by more than 50 per cent of the vote.
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Liberals → lead → vote
But that agenda is increasingly different from the one the Liberals put forward in the last election: massive increases in defence spending, big subsidies to oil and gas, the abandonment of United Nations peacekeeping, net-zero climate goals that won’t be met, the selling off of Canada’s largest airports to private operators, and a loophole reform to Canada’s project approval process.
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that → put → process
It’s legislation that Conservatives can only dream Canadians would have allowed them to table.
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them → ’ → that
But Liberals who spent years saying their assessments wouldn’t result in lawsuits, and that science-based decision making that considered impacts on nature, climate, Indigenous Peoples, was required — now stand by watching it dismantled by one of their own.
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it → spend → own
Now, one can believe that it takes too long to get projects done in this country and reform is needed, and still conclude that what the prime minister proposes is a radical departure from what Canadians expect.
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Canadians → believe → what
Building Canada Strong Act is a 243-page omnibus bill that amends several pieces of legislation.
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that → build → legislation
It wasn’t given to journalists until 35 minutes into a 45-minute technical briefing.
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It → give → briefing
When ministers took the podium, reporters had no chance to thoughtfully review the bill.
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reporters → take → bill
This isn’t the way sweeping legislation should be explained.
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legislation → explain → ?
Setting that aside, what the bill does is vast in scope.
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does → set → scope
It doesn’t just speed up timelines for reviews and permitting to one year, it amends the “Building Canada Act,” the controversial bill C-5, to allow for “regions of national interests,” essentially gives the government another loophole by which to fast-track projects, where it can pick and choose what laws to apply.
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it → speed → laws
The new bill also gives a designated minister — for now, Internal Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc — the power to remove conditions from projects already approved.
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bill → give → projects
“One of the things that’s holding Roberts Bank Terminal Two back from construction, are some conditions that were imposed under the environmental assessment to prevent harm to Southern Resident Killer Whales,” said Anna Johnston, a staff lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law.
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Johnston → hold → Law
“The proponent had to come up with a plan for shipping at night so as to more minimally impede orcas when they’re hunting.
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they → have → orcas
“The minister now, in this bill, will have the power to just remove that condition of approval,” she said.
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she → have → approval
The bill mostly follows what was presented last May for public consultation.
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what → follow → consultation
Cabinet will pre
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Cabinet → pre → ?
approve big pipeline projects before routing details or the Canada Energy Regulator’s review of environmental conditions and impacts on Indigenous Peoples is complete, for example.
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review → approve → example
But one thing the government backed away from — after receiving 26,000 emails — are changes to Species At Risk Act that would have allowed cabinet to approve projects that could lead to the extinction of species.
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that → back → species
Unfortunately, the changes proposed Monday, and the change made in C-5 last year, allow the Carney government to do the same run around Canada’s environmental protections for species at risk, like the orcas, just without the public closely watching.
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public → propose → orcas
This is far from the only poison pill in C-39: the bill gives the CER — now the reviewer of major pipelines — the ability to remove conditions, to suspend a variety of laws from applying, including for example, now allowing a company to start constructing a pipeline without meeting the conditions set out in its certificate (those very conditions upon which the certificate was granted).
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certificate → give → which
The bill also amends the Canada Labour Code to expand on the labour minister to use section 107 — a power that the Liberals have used several times since 2024, including last summer under Carney, to shut down strikes and impose binding arbitration.
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Liberals → amend → arbitration
Labour groups had called on the Liberals to eliminate section 107 — arguing it was unconstitutional (four ongoing court cases may settle that).
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cases → call → that
Instead, the Grits have codified it and offered conditions by which the minister’s power can be exercised.
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power → codify → which
The government frames this law as part of its “Canada Strong” plan — and frankly, some parts are good — but toxic with good is still bad.
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toxic → frame → good
The Aporia
