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Bill C-39: Ottawa's Fast-Track Bill Divides Business, Unions and Greens
Ottawa's Bill C-39 would make five-year fast-track project powers permanent, set a one-year review target, and rewrite federal strike-ending rules — drawing cheers from business and fierce pushback from unions and environmental groups.
Why it matters
Bill C-39 is the Carney government's flagship legislation for speeding up major projects and reshaping federal labour law. It would turn temporary five-year fast-track powers into permanent ones, impose a one-year target for federal project reviews, and set new rules for Ottawa to end strikes deemed against the “national interest.” Business groups welcome it as a cure for red tape; unions and environmental groups call it an unprecedented rollback.
Full report
The bill, tabled on September 21 and debated at second reading in the House of Commons on September 24, amends the Building Canada Act and the Canada Labour Code. It would delete all five sunset clauses that currently switch off cabinet's powers — picking projects for the national-interest list, changing their conditions, and exempting them from parts of federal laws such as the Fisheries Act and the Species at Risk Act — on June 26, 2030. It would also let cabinet designate entire “Regions of National Interest,” and allow project conditions to be published up to 30 days after approval instead of at least 30 days before.
On labour, C-39 changes how the government can invoke Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to order striking workers back: the minister would first have to declare that a strike affects the “national interest” and consider a report from a new special mediator. Climate groups say the bill “dismantles Canada's environmental policy beyond anything we've ever seen,” and the Canadian Union of Public Employees has voted unanimously to defy the bill if it passes unamended. The Assembly of First Nations is demanding more time for consultation on the one-year review target.
Supporters see the opposite picture. Business associations praise the one-year reviews as a step for Canada's investment appeal, and Senator Clément Gignac — chair of the Senate Banking, Commerce and the Economy Committee — told The Hill Times that centralizing reviews into a single process will improve efficiency after Canada's “pretty bad reputation” for delay and red tape. The bill would also fund 100 new federal health and safety officers. It must still clear committee, House and Senate votes.
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