Martin Ignasiak and the Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s Heather Exner-Pirot write on the steps Canada’s Parliament can take to restore investor confidence. Specifically, the designation of certain Trans-Canada Corridors in the public interest, immediate and targeted amendments to Canada’s regulatory regime, and the establishment of a dedicated office to manage Canada’s obligations to Indigenous communities, would provide investors with the comfort they need to again advance major critical infrastructure projects in Canada.
His column appears in Inside Policy, the magazine of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
The specific routes of the corridors must provide competitive points of access to our coasts from which we can access global markets. Potential corridors could head north, to Churchill in Manitoba or Grays Bay in Nunavut, or from the Ring of Fire in Ontario south to existing transportation networks. Other corridors that will help investors access markets should be brought forward. An obvious corridor route is the one previously proposed by Enbridge for its Northern Gateway Pipeline which federal regulators and Cabinet have already found to be in the national public interest.
In addition to establishing these “Trans-Canada Corridors”, Parliament should remedy several of the misguided principles that our current regulatory regime is built upon. This would reduce duplication and increase regulatory efficiency.
An appropriately empowered, staffed and financed consultation office mandated to work with Indigenous communities along the designated Trans-Canada Corridors will incorporate the most sophisticated and effective consultation and accommodation processes. As the Crown’s representative, this office would help identify the specific routes with least impact to these communities, while ensuring they benefit financially and otherwise from the advancement of new infrastructure that will facilitate Canada’s diversification of its trading partners.
Martin's full article is available here.
Bennett Jones