An Energy-Based Economy Requires "Commercially Reasonable" Approval Timelines

Amid ongoing efforts to identify ways for Canada to become less dependent on the U.S., partner Michael Fortier says launching more mining and energy projects is one way to do so. The approvals for such projects, however, need to come within a "commercially reasonable time frame."

Michael's quote was referenced in an opinion piece in The Globe and Mail discussing challenges surrounding the approval process for large resource projects in Canada.

Currently, major resource projects in Canada must go through an approval process conducted by the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC). However, since the agency was established in 2019, only one project—the Cedar LNG terminal in British Columbia—has been approved. The approval was also granted on a technicality, Michael says, as it was argued that the approval could act as a replacement for an environmental assessment that was part of the IAAC's process.