Overview
- The Liberal government tabled Bill C-39 on Monday, Sept. 21, proposing an omnibus overhaul to shorten project reviews and amend the Canada Labour Code.
- The bill creates 'regions of national interest' that can be pre‑approved after consultations and granted limited legal exemptions to speed projects inside those zones.
- Responsibility for many large energy and transport reviews would move from the Impact Assessment Agency to sector regulators such as the Canada Energy Regulator and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission with new one‑year or six‑month review targets.
- Section 107 would be preserved but made conditional by a required ministerial finding that a dispute harms the 'national interest' and by a report from a new special mediator; the bill also mandates earlier bargaining in some cases, federally mediated 'relationship repair' after stoppages, higher penalties for bad‑faith bargaining, 26 new CIRB hires and 100 health and safety officers.
- Unions, Indigenous and environmental groups plan coordinated opposition over concerns the changes broaden executive discretion and could weaken strike leverage and protections even though the government dropped a proposed species‑at‑risk exemption during consultations and parliamentary review is now beginning.