Canada is committed to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.1 To do this will almost certainly require a substantial degree of electrification – namely an increased use of clean, non-carbon emitting forms of electricity.2 A recent paper – Project of the Century, published by the Public Policy Forum – notes:
"Canada is going all in on electricity. It is shaping up as the number one national undertaking of the 21st century – dwarfing in ambition the 19th century construction of the Grand Trunk and Canadian Pacific Railways."3
Various credible sources have forecast that electricity demand – and our generation capacity – may have to more than double by 2050.4
In another eye-catching sentence, Project of the Century notes:
"The path ahead involves adding more installed capacity in the next quarter-century than we have in the 101 years since the Adam Beck station began large-scale generation at Niagara Falls."5
In light of the scope and scale of the works and undertakings required for this level of electrification, a number of commentators have expressed concerns about Canada's current processes – particularly at the federal level – for permitting and approving major electricity infrastructure.6
In this post we look at the current state of federal permitting and at various recent reforms to make these processes more timely and predictable.
Federal Permitting
Federal jurisdiction over permitting for new electricity facilities includes most aspects of major hydro-power projects and all material aspects of nuclear power – which together account for 70% of all electricity produced in Canada.7 It also extends to electricity works and undertakings which are interprovincial, international, located on federal lands or offshore or which are federally financed.
Historically, federal permitting for major electricity projects has been arduous and time- consuming. A study we participated in a few years ago surveyed federal experience in permitting energy facilities.8 For major electricity projects, federal permitting timelines were as follows:
For individual electricity projects in the survey, federal permitting timelines were as follows:
Of note about the results of the survey:
- These federal times are objectively long – combined with a few years of pre-filing planning and preparation and a few years for post-approval construction, these permitting timelines are consistent with total project development times of a decade or more.9 These federal timelines were roughly twice as long as equivalent provincial timelines for projects under their jurisdiction.10
- Our survey was completed prior to the passage of the Impact Assessment Act but all available information suggests this has not had any effect on the speed or predictability of federal permitting timelines.11
Federal Permitting Reform
Faced with the need for unprecedented expansion of clean electricity to meet net-zero emissions goals by 2050, the federal government has realized and acknowledged that its permitting process must be reformed to become more efficient and predictable.12
This has resulted in various reform initiatives:13
- Reorganization of the federal bureaucracy to create institutional structures to supervise and oversee the federal response to clean growth through the establishment of a Clean Growth Office, including a federal permitting coordinator, at the heart of government in the Privy Council Office; Setting targets of five years to complete all federal permitting processes for major designated projects and two years for any non-designated projects; Promoting efficiency and effectiveness in consulting and accommodating the interests of affected Indigenous people through the issuance of fresh and updated consultation guidance and the appointment of a Crown Consultation Coordinator to standardize and upgrade practice across the government; Promoting efficiency and reducing duplication with provincial permitting authorities through cooperation and delegation agreements with the goal of "One Project, One Review;" Taking steps to "change the culture" among participants in the federal permitting process to emphasize the priority placed by the government in reforming the permitting process to assist in meeting the government's key clean growth and carbon reduction goals.
Many of these proposed reforms – or variations of them – have been tried before. Reorganizing the federal bureaucracy and establishing timeline guidance, targets or service standards have been a staple of federal permitting reform efforts, usually with somewhat limited success.
The success of these particular reform proposals will depend on the consistency and the intensity of the political direction to the regulators and the bureaucracy. To the extent that the government is and remains committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 they will increasingly feel the pressure to get their permitting process to function with greater efficiency and predictability.14, 15
1 Climate Change – Our Plan; Net-Zero Emissions by 2050; Government of Canada, Environment and Natural Resources; (2024-09-03).
2 Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector; International Energy Agency (2020). See also Canada's Energy Future 2023: Energy Supply and Demand Projections to 2050; Canada Energy Regulator (2023).
3 Project of the Century; Janet Annesley, David Campbell, Arash Golshan, and Edward Greenspon; Public Policy Forum (July 2023), at p.1.
4 Project of the Century; note 3; at p.1.
5 Project of the Century; note 3; at p.5.
6 Powering Canada: A Blueprint for Success; Government of Canada, Canada Electricity Advisory Council; (May 2024) at p. 98-99. See also Smoothing the Path: How Canada can Make Faster Major-Project Decisions; Charles Deland and Brad Gilmour; Commentary #661; C.D. Howe Institute (p.8-10).
7 Implications of Decarbonizing Canada's Electricity Grid; Elmira Aliakbari and Jock Finlayson; Fraser Institute, (2024) at p.5.
8 Timing of Canadian Project Approvals; Kurtis Reed, Bradley Grant, Cameron Anderson and Jonathan Drance; 54 Alberta Law Review No. 2; (December 2016).
9 Project of the Century; note 3 at p.8.
10 Timing of Canadian Project Approvals; note 8; at p. 325. See also Federal Energy Project Reviews: Timelines in Practice; Jonathan Drance, Glenn Cameron and Rachel Hutton; 6 Energy Regulation Quarterly, Issue 3 (2018).
11 Federal Impact Assessment Act Under Review: Measuring Progress on Projects and Timelines; (April 2023); Marla Orenstein; Canada West Foundation.
12 Building Canada's Clean Energy Future; Privy Council Office, (June 2024) at "Canada's Impact Assessment and Regulatory System – An Overview." See also Smoothing the Path; note 6 at p.8.
13 Building Canada's Clean Energy Future; note 12 at "We Have a Plan".
14 Powering Canada; note 6 at "A Risk-Based Approach to Project Reviews". See discussion of alternative regulatory structures and assessment practices, including more focused project specific risk-based disclosure; enhanced use of strategic assessments and an audit and compliance approach to low-risk projects instead of prior review and approvals. None of these more far-reaching potential reforms have yet been accepted by the federal government.
15 On March 21, 2025, Prime Minister Carney called for further reform of the federal permitting process and said: “It is high time to build things we have never imagined and to build them at a speed that we have never seen.” Just how this could result in reforms to the federal permitting process will depend on a variety of factors, including the outcome of the Election and the particulars of any proposed reform, which are not yet fully available.
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