Bill C-39 also targets Canada’s trade corridors, ports and federal labour protections as part of push to speed up major project delivery.
The federal government has introduced Bill C-39, the ‘Building Canada Strong Act’, aimed at speeding up infrastructure project reviews and giving developers, investors and the trades that build major projects more certainty around timelines.
The bill’s centrepiece is a commitment to complete federal project reviews within one year of a proponent submitting a full application.
“Canada is a country of high standards, but high standards do not require slow decisions,” stated Prime Minister Mark Carney. “Our government is bringing speed, certainty and predictability to how we build, so investors know that when Canada says it wants something built, Canadians will get it built. In a more uncertain world, we will control our own future.”
The legislation also targets Canada’s trade corridors and ports, formally designating strategic corridors, creating a new Transportation Project Office, and modernizing port governance to move goods and materials faster. A third pillar updates the Canada Labour Code and adds federal capacity, including 100 new health and safety officers – roughly a 70 per cent increase in inspection capacity – and 26 new staff at the Canada Industrial Relations Board to clear a backlog of worker complaints.
“Canada is building big and creating certainty for a stronger, more competitive, and independent Canadian economy,” stated Dominic LeBlanc, minister responsible for One Canadian Economy. “We have already begun by accelerating major nation building projects through the Major Projects Office, and now we will apply the same efficiency more broadly through this Act. Our standards are simple: one project, one review, one year.”
Since the Major Projects Office launched in September 2025, 27 nation-building initiatives, new ports, mines and energy corridors have been referred to it, representing $200 billion in current investment and a potential path to $500 billion more. Ottawa’s five-year capital commitments, totalling about $280 billion, are expected to unlock more than $1 trillion in combined public and private investment.
Bill C-39 now heads to parliamentary review.