Edmonton (June 13, 2019) – Bill C-69 has become a glaring example of a pipeline approval process that makes it virtually impossible to get major resource projects built, according to the Progressive Contractors Association of Canada (PCA), whose companies employ thousands of construction workers across Canada.
The Senate has sent Bill C-69 back to the House of Commons with several amendments, none of which improve the process for getting critical pipelines built.
“It’s a sad day when the federal government of a resourced based country does all it can to bog down major projects, drive up costs and uncertainty,” said Paul de Jong, President of the Progressive Contractors Association of Canada. “What we have now is a pipeline approval process that’s even more broken than it ever was.”
While the federal Liberal government has accepted some amendments to Bill C-69, it has rejected others that are critical to moving pipeline projects forward, such as the practical changes that PCA suggested, including the following.
- Requiring written justification before a minister extends or suspends project approval timelines.
- Limiting the right to participate in hearings to “interested parties”.
- Making the regulatory agency independent, allowing it quasi-judicial status and the power to make project recommendations, not just assessments.
“If the goal was to kill jobs and drive away investment, this bill will certainly do that,” added de Jong.
Bill C-69, aimed at redefining the process for reviewing and approving Canada’s pipelines and other resource projects, now creates more subjective standards and heightens the risk of political interference.
About the Progressive Contractors Association of Canada (PCA)
With offices in BC, Alberta and Ontario, PCA is the voice of progressive unionized employers in Canada’s construction industry. Our member companies are responsible for 40 percent of energy and natural resource construction projects in British Columbia and Alberta and are leaders in infrastructure construction across Canada. PCA member companies employ more than 25,000 skilled construction workers in Canada, represented primarily by CLAC.
For further information, contact:
Danna O’Brien, Danna@obriencommunications.ca 416-500-0699