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ARTICLE · 13 MAY 2026

Federal Acceleration Of Infrastructure Approvals

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
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The federal government has introduced ambitious proposals to streamline infrastructure project approvals, building on last year's Building Canada Act. These reforms aim to reduce federal decision timelines to one year and consolidate Indigenous consultations through a new Crown Consultation Hub. The proposals include creating Federal Economic Zones that would exempt certain projects from individual impact assessments and granting Cabinet new authorities to expedite major infrastructure development.

CanadaEnvironment
Sarah Powell
Sarah Powell
Alexandria Pike
Alexandria Pike
Zachary Silver
Zachary Silver
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Less than one year after the federal government introduced the Building Canada Act (BCA) to accelerate major projects, on May 8, 2026, it put forth more ambitious proposals to streamline various federal approvals for infrastructure projects. The federal government is seeking input on two discussion papers that propose the most significant legislative and policy reforms on environmental assessment and permitting in decades. 

Draft legislation will be introduced after the consultation period has ended on June 7, 2026.

Key proposed reforms are as follows:

Expedited Federal Approvals (One Year)

One of the objectives of the BCA was to enhance investor confidence by reducing federal decision timelines on major projects from five to two years. The federal government is now proposing to give proponents one year to submit the requisite studies and information, following which all federal review and any issuance of decisions on impact assessments and permits would take place within an

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