Bill C-39 Committee on Oct. 19th, 2026

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

Lord Denning once said, “Without consequence, there is no law.” You're saying there is no consequence, which is probably because there's no law—

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

No, I didn't say there's no consequence. You've just attributed those words to me. I'm glad you quoted Lord Denning, and I congratulate you for that, but I didn't say that at all.

I wouldn't want to be a deputy minister in this government who decides not to follow this law or not to follow the clear cabinet directive that's been adopted. I have every confidence that senior officials understand their responsibility to carry out the government's agenda.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

The challenge I have with the application of Bill C-5 and now Bill C-39 is that there's a lot of ability for you, gentlemen, and your government to confuse the ideal.

When we look at that and we talk.... You're not helping things by saying you're moving projects along that already existed. The Darlington refurbishment, which is right next to my riding, started before your government was elected, so taking credit for that is so disingenuous that it doesn't even begin to....

Forgive my skepticism if I believe that the one year will not happen and that there will be no project completed within one year.

Are you willing to commit today that projects will be done in one year?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

We are absolutely prepared to commit that decisions will be rendered on projects after a one-year evaluation, yes.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

You said, “After one year.” Even in there, you see the equivocation and you see the lack of clarity—

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

What did you find unclear about that answer?

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

You're sitting there with a stopwatch, saying, “Stop, start. Stop, start.” You're trying to control it within the year.

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Feldberg just—

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

You're trying to take credit for projects—

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Mr. Lawrence, I'm actually the only one with a stopwatch, so let him answer the question, because you're actually out of time.

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Feldberg just outlined for you the very narrow reasons that could be invoked to permit a delay in that one-year approval process. They are extremely narrow and extremely specific, and they include a withdrawal or an amendment by the project promoter itself.

I don't understand how you think that's not tight enough. I think it's actually a pretty stringent and narrow path that would make normal a one-year maximum turnaround time for rendering a decision on these regulatory processes.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Mr. Lawrence.

Ms. Harrison, it's over to you for five minutes.

[Emma Harrison, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister MacKinnon, it won't come as a surprise to you that I'd like to talk about how this bill will affect agriculture.

Through Bill C-39, we're going to modernize paper-based processes through digitization. I think people would be surprised to know how many goods are moved across our country with a paper base and how complicated that can be.

If you could, I'd like you to elaborate on what digitization will mean for agricultural producers, as well as for all products that move across Canada.

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

That is an outstanding question, and I want to thank Mr. LeBlanc for giving me some timely reminders.

I think the agriculture sector is potentially one of the biggest winners and has the most to gain. Many farms and agricultural operations are small and medium-sized businesses. If you are a large business, you can have a large compliance department or a large administrative back office that can help you sort out all of your regulatory requirements, fill out forms and get them to the right place. That, we know, is a larger challenge for small and medium-sized businesses, including many in the agricultural sector.

What we want to do is democratize and modernize, if you will, all of these regulatory processes—food inspection, immigration, bills of lading, port reservations—and try, to the extent possible, to make it a tell-us-once process, meaning you click one button with one set of information and hopefully don't have to repeat and re-enter information that has already been provided, such as basic administrative data about a business.

We used to be great at this in Canada, at trade digitization—paperless trade, if you will. We've fallen behind many places in the world, and we need to leapfrog those places. I think, and I firmly believe, that the big winners out of that will be businesses that currently struggle with a very large administrative and regulatory burden.

[Emma Harrison, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Thank you.

Minister LeBlanc, what criteria will determine whether an area becomes a region of national interest?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

That's a very good question, and it has generated some considerable attention. Thank you for raising it, Ms. Harrison.

Before a region could be listed under the Building Canada Act, a regional assessment would first need to be completed under the Impact Assessment Act, which is the current authority in these areas, or under an applicable territorial law. As you can imagine, in the territories, where there are some modern treaties, the process is a bit different.

That assessment would examine a region's environmental, economic, social and health circumstances. Obviously, indigenous rights would be a clear and important part of all of that work.

That assessment would also look at the cumulative effects from current or future activities. I think this is important. For projects big and small, many communities and groups talk to us about the need to consider cumulative effects and not salami-slice an individual approval about project X or project Y without looking at it in a broader and more holistic way.

Once that work is completed, the minister responsible for the Building Canada Act may recommend that a particular region be listed. A decision to designate a region would be informed by factors listed in the Building Canada Act. They include, for example, whether a region could strengthen the autonomy or resilience or security of Canada, provide economic or other benefits to our country or have a high likelihood of successful execution. These are all evaluations and criteria that Parliament is very familiar with, of course, because of the work that was done so well last June when Bill C-5 was approved.

[Emma Harrison, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Thank you.

I think I have a few seconds left. Minister LeBlanc, what will change for project proponents on day one under Bill C-39 that will give them greater certainty than they have under the current system?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Again, that's a very good question.

On day one, if the legislation is approved by Parliament, there will be a greater level of confidence and certainty for those communities, indigenous organizations, businesses and provincial, territorial and municipal governments that may want to bring a project before the Government of Canada for approval.

One of the drags on building in an ambitious, significant way in the country has been the accumulation of snow in front of the plow, so to speak, as successive governments have navigated the cumulative effects of federal regulations and federal reviews. What we want to do is have the same rigour, the same standards of review and oversight, but in a much more reliable and much more predictable timeline. It's good for investors, sure, but it also encourages people to bring forward projects big and small in their communities all across the country.

Ms. Harrison, you represent a region of the country, not one of Canada's biggest cities. There are important projects in regions and small communities across the country that are very important to those communities, projects that deserve this same level of efficiency and rigour in terms of getting a decision. It's not only the big projects that we're thinking of.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Thank you, Ms. Harrison.

It's now over to Mr. Gourde for five minutes. You're up.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

I'm up. The show must go on.

If any gaps are discovered in the bill, will you be prepared to accept amendments to improve it? I think it's important that we all work together.

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Gourde, no gaps have been found yet, but if you find any, I'm sure we'll take into account your comments.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

After 11 years, Ministers, I'm glad that you're ready to work for all Canadians.

Do you think it's important that the two parties most likely to be in power have been on the same wavelength all this time to prevent generational projects from falling through later?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

Of course, we appreciate the Conservative Party's support of the bill so far. We hope to continue working in the same friendly way.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Allow me to add something, Mr. Gourde. I think there's an element of teasing in the question and in my colleague's answer, but you have certainly identified something that's important for the country.

We're at a difficult time for Canada's economy, and workers in all regions of Canada are facing uncertainties. It's important that we work together, that we find merit in a bill and that we improve it, if necessary. That obviously includes the political parties in power in each of the country's provinces.

I'm very happy with the premise of your question.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

In recent years, the world has viewed Canada as an unreliable country for projects of this type. Canada needs foreign investment. Have you been pressured by investment funds or international financial markets to move faster and ensure that projects are completed?

In recent years, Canada has experienced complications that meant we couldn't necessarily deliver grain where it needed to go, receive goods and so on.