Hello, iPolitics readers.
Welcome to Economic Insights, your twice-weekly deep dive into the major projects and policy shifts shaping the Canadian economy.
Stories we are following:
– Ottawa’s electricity plan, part 2: Watts on the table this fall.
Federal Energy Minister Tim Hodgson says the government is putting the finishing touches on its “final” electricity strategy, due to be released later this fall.
The strategy follows up on the first phase, released in May, which included a proposal to amend the Clean Electricity Regulations and identified natural gas as an ongoing source of baseload and peaking power.
“For the last several months, we’ve been consulting with provinces and territories, Indigenous peoples, utilities and industry in general on what that strategy should look like,” Hodgson said Thursday during a funding announcement for Wind West in Nova Scotia.
In an email to iPolitics, a spokesperson for the minister confirmed the strategy is not a separate one but a follow-up to a commitment to consult and return with what is like a “chapter two” of the May strategy.
– LeBlanc hints at more ‘national interest’ projects coming soon.
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc suggests more projects could soon be designated as being in the national interest under the Building Canada Act (BCA).
At a legislative committee studying Bill C-39, which would broaden and make permanent the BCA’s powers, Conservatives asked LeBlanc why the changes are needed, given that only one project, the Pacific Link pipeline, has been designated under the law so far.
“I understand [the Conservatives] share our enthusiasm for designation, the listing of projects of national interest,” he said. “Good news is coming again soon.”
Besides the Pacific Link pipeline, those are the Mackenzie Valley Highway in the Northwest Territories, the Grays Bay Road and Port in Nunavut, the deep geological repository for nuclear waste in Ontario, and Roberts Bank Terminal 2 in British Columbia.
That port expansion could serve Alberta and Ottawa’s proposed Pacific Link oil pipeline.
– Nuclear regulator can’t decide how to implement UNDRIP, appeal court rules.
The Federal Court of Appeal has ruled that Canada’s nuclear regulator does not have the authority to decide how to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), a decision that could have wide repercussions for major projects.
The case involves Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ (CNL) planned waste site on the Ottawa river, near Kebaowek First Nation. The project involves building a facility that would contain one million cubic tonnes of low-level radioactive waste from the CNL research facility and other sites.
Kebaowek asked for a judicial review of the nuclear regulator’s approval of the project, arguing the administrative body should ensure the company worked to secure the community’s free, prior and informed consent, as defined in Canada’s UNDRIP law.
The lower court ruled in Kebaowek’s favour, asking CNL to renew the consultation process with a goal of meeting an enhanced standard ahead of a nuclear regulator hearing for the project slated for 2027.
But the decision from the appeal court released Friday overturns that ruling.
The three justices agree with the nuclear regulator, who argued previously that is “a creature of the statute” that is “not empowered to determine how to implement UNDRIP in Canadian law.”
By the numbers:
68,000: The jobs lost in September, according to Statistics Canada, marking a second straight surprise month of losses.
33 million: The tons per year of LNG Canada hopes to export by 2030.
4: The number of projects that have had a Gazette notice and are currently in line to be officially designated as being in the “national interest,” a status that allows for regulatory shortcuts.
Major projects watch:
– A whitepaper prepared by PETRONAS and Wood Mackenzie assesses Canada’s prospects for capturing a greater share of Asia’s expanding LNG demand. It concludes Canada has a real chance to win a larger share of Asia’s growing LNG market, but that the window is narrowing and success isn’t assured.
– The city of Dryden is dozens of kilometres away from the proposed deep geological repository (DGR) planned for northwestern Ontario, but it is not considered to be a host community for the project. The city appealed to the federal Major Projects Office this week not to designate the project as being in the national interest. Read more from the CBC.
– At a mining event in the UK this week, Energy Minister Tim Hodgson said the world is entering the “’largest investment supercycle’ in mining history.”
– A massive data centre to provide computing power for the artificial intelligence giant Anthropic is in pre-construction just outside Port Hawkesbury in Cape Breton. EverWind Fuels will build and own the facility, while Anthropic will lease the first phase for a term of at least 20 years. Anthropic said in a news release that the data centre “will power Claude models and serve growing demand from Canadian and global customers.” CBC also has this one.
– The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) today released the Economic and Fiscal Outlook – October 2026, which projects weaker economic growth and larger borrowing than forecast in June. The report also forecasts that the government will meet only one of its two fiscal anchors.
– A standout quote, and warning, from Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc during his committee appearance on Bill C-39: “I wouldn’t want to be a deputy minister in this government that does not follow the clear cabinet directive [on one year project approvals.].”
Headlines:
- Canada, Turkey set to sign pledge during Carney visit to deepen defence, energy ties, source says (Reuters)
- ‘Chaotic situation’: Cowichan decision appellants warn of possible impacts to port, property, fishing grounds (CBC)
- Canada, India closer to new economic pact following trade talks in New Delhi, Mumbai (CP)
- ‘Nowadays, you need a lot fewer people’: Laid-off Stelco workers not alone as steel jobs disappear (CBC)
- Hitachi Energy investit 479 millions de dollars dans une nouvelle usine à London (Radio-Canada)
- Canada’s new green finance standards sidestep oil and gas emissions (The Logic)
- Carney’s middle-power aim should be Asia, prominent Japanese economist says (Globe and Mail)
- Stelco’s U.S. owner says steelmaker had ‘strongest’ quarter since acquisition as massive layoffs underway (CBC)
- Nova Scotia claims its winds are ‘world class.’ All it needs is data to back that up (Globe and Mail)
- West Red Lake Gold plans to restart Canada gold mine (Global Mining Review)
- AtkinsRéalis And Indiana To Study Up To 6 GW Of Candu Nuclear Capacity (NucNet)
- Carney’s pipeline push is unlikely to bring back Canada’s oil jobs boom (Reuters)