Here’s why Bill C-69 is shaping up as a campaign wedge issue

Poilievre pledged to enact all five demands from Canada’s energy sector, including repealing Bill C-69

Published Apr 03, 2025  •  Last updated 0 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Workers survey around pipe to start of right-of-way construction for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project, in Acheson, Alta., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019. Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

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Among the many hot-button issues raised this week on the campaign trail has been Bill C-69, a contentious bill that the Trudeau Liberals said would protect Canada’s environment but that critics argue severely damages Canada’s energy sector.

Known as the Impact Assessment Act, Bill C-69 has been a thorn in the energy sector’s side since its inception in 2019. The bill requires assessments for environmental, health, social and economic impacts and the rights of Indigenous people before a major resource or infrastructure project can get off the ground.

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The Liberal government pitched the bill as a way to use a single government organization — the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada — to speed up the approval of major projects, while taking into account the scientific, social and health impacts of a project.

Meanwhile, critics of the legislation — which include the energy sector, oilpatch politicians and federal Conservatives, among others — have handed it nicknames ranging from the “No More Pipelines Act” to the “Don’t Build Anything Anywhere Act” and warned that it would delay major construction projects and could phase out Canada’s oil and gas industry.

“This will effectively kill the natural resource sector in Canada’s economy,” former Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said in 2021. “That is why there is near universal opposition to it.… This is a terrible piece of legislation.”

Some research has shown that the legislation has slowed down the development process.

A 2023 report from the Canada West Foundation examined 25 projects that fell under review of the Impact Assessment Agency and found that all projects were stuck in the early stages of the process and had spent an average of 322 days in the first phase, well short of the 180-day goal.

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“Phase 1 was designed to speed things up for the back end of the (impact assessment) process, and we won’t know for several years whether or not it has been successful in doing that,” the report states.

The bill has also faced legal hurdles.

In 2023, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the bill was largely unconstitutional, as some of the sections were too broad and could overreach into provincial jurisdiction.

Though the decision was non-binding, the federal government amended the bill in 2024 to force impact assessments only when a project has the possibility to adversely affect areas within federal jurisdiction.

“Minister of environment and climate change Steven Guilbeault still has the ability to meddle in projects that are within provincial jurisdiction,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said in a statement at the time.

“This is simply unacceptable and Alberta, when it comes to intra-provincial projects, will not recognize the Impact Assessment Act as valid law.”

Now, six years after its introduction, the Impact Assessment Act has rejoined the federal conversation.

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Earlier this week, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre pledged to enact all five demands from Canada’s energy sector, including repealing Bill C-69.

Liberal leader Mark Carney, however, told reporters on Tuesday that he would not repeal the bill and would instead implement a “one project, one approval” process to avoid duplication on project assessments.

“What’s essential is to work, at this time of crisis, to come together as a nation, all levels of government, to focus on those projects that are going to make material differences to our country, to Canadian workers and to our future,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

With a renewed interest in pipeline development sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump‘s trade war, you’ll probably hear more about C-69 as the campaign rolls on.

With files from The Canadian Press

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Today’s promises

• NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced plans to implement “Canada Victory Bonds,” tax-free savings bonds meant to help Canadians rebuild the economy. Every dollar raised through the bonds would be used on Canadian infrastructure projects.
• Singh also plans to protect Canadian steel workers by using 100 per cent Canadian steel for federal projects.

Election headlines

• Oilpatch wish list for transforming energy policy makes its election debut
• Poilievre pitches expanding U.S. trade to fund Canada’s military

• Email: [email protected]

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