EDITORIAL: Prime Minister Mark Carney’s growth targets slowed by reality
· Toronto Sun
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Reality has begun to intrude on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s promise of a year ago, “to build an enormous amount of new infrastructure at speeds not seen in generations.”
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The federal government announced last week it’s slowing down the consultation process it previously announced to reduce to one year federal approvals for nation-building projects such as ports, railways, energy corridors, pipelines, critical minerals and clean energy.
The public consultation process has now been extended to July 22, versus the government’s original announcement on May 8 that the consultation process would be completed in 30 days.
That will obviously delay reform of the current system, which Carney has described as too long, too repetitive, and which places an unfair onus on proponents of building new infrastructure to navigate an overly complex system.
While a 44-day extension of the consultation period may not sound like much, when the goal is to establish a 365-day process for approving major infrastructure projects, it sounds like more delays could be on the way.
Carney’s promise to double new home construction to 500,000 units annually by 2035, at “speeds not seen in generations” – meaning doubling the current pace of new home instruction – is also off to a slow start.
The parliamentary budget office reported in December that the $13 billion the Carney government has earmarked for affordable housing through its new Building Canada Homes agency is expected to add only a modest amount to the housing supply – about 26,000 units over five years.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported in January that housing starts across Canada last year totalled 259,028.
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While that’s a 5.6% increase from 2024, CMHC says that with Canada’s economy expected to grow more slowly in 2026 with only slight improvements in 2027 and 2028, “new home construction is set to decline through 2028 as developers face high costs, weaker demand and more unsold homes. Condominium starts will be especially weak.”
Meanwhile, the proposed bitumen pipeline from Alberta to B.C. agreed to in a memorandum of understanding between Premier Danielle Smith and Carney still faces significant hurdles, including opposition by the B.C. government and some Indigenous groups.
Beyond that, the federal government’s moratorium on oil tankers off the B.C. coast will need to amended.