Federal plan to accelerate Canada’s regulatory process is a wrecking ball aimed at environmental review and Indigenous rights

Press Release

The Green Party of Canada is calling on the federal government to withdraw sweeping changes announced Friday that would further weaken environmental assessment of major projects, override constitutional obligations to Indigenous nations, and limit public participation in decisions affecting communities across the country.

The announcement by Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Minister Steven MacKinnon would cap federal reviews at one year, consolidate decision-making into a single comprehensive federal authorization, and replace nation-to-nation consultation with what the government calls “one Indigenous consultation process, per community, per project.” Canadians have just thirty days to respond.

“These proposed changes are wrecking balls, not reforms,” said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. “Strong environmental assessment and proper consultation with Indigenous Peoples are not red tape. They are how we protect communities, ecosystems, and future generations. The government is framing essential safeguards as obstacles, and proposing to tear them down during a climate emergency.”

This is not the first time Canadians have been told that environmental safeguards are obstacles to progress. In 2012, the Harper government passed Bill C-38, repealed the Mulroney-era Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, and shifted pipeline reviews to the National Energy Board under shortened timelines.

“This is déjà vu,” May said. “We have already seen what happens when a federal government treats environmental review and Indigenous consultation as red tape. The Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion was reviewed and approved under Harper’s framework. In August 2018 the Federal Court of Appeal cancelled the permit, finding the environmental review was too narrow and Indigenous consultation inadequate. These errors were due to exactly the kind of changes Carney, Hodgson and company want now, and they plan to move even faster.”

The Green Party emphasized that the government’s proposed consultation framework misstates Canada’s legal obligations. Section 35 of the Constitution Act and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act require the Crown to consult rights-holding Indigenous nations, not undefined “communities.” Reducing that obligation to a single coordinated process per project is the kind of shortcut that has already been rejected by the courts.

Former federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, speaking on CBC’s Power and Politics on Friday, said the proposals take Canada back decades on climate action and that the government is using a sledgehammer where a scalpel should be used.

The Green Party of Canada is calling on the federal government to extend the thirty-day consultation period, withdraw the proposal to consolidate Indigenous consultation into a single per-community process, and commit publicly that no legislative or regulatory changes will weaken existing environmental laws or constitutional protections for Indigenous Peoples.

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For media inquiries or to arrange an interview: media@greenparty.ca

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