Dismantle 'major projects office,' say policy watchers at the NCC and CTF

Easing approval of major projects can be had by cutting red tape and killing anti-progress policy, groups say.

Bryan Passifiume, Toronto Sun

OTTAWA — Canada’s first major, nation-building project should be to dismantle the country’s major projects office.

That’s what policy watchers told the Toronto Sun Wednesday, one day before Prime Minister Mark Carney will announce the first wave of national building projects.

“We don’t need politicians in Ottawa musing about which project they think is in the national interest, we need politicians to cut their taxes and red tape that roadblocks Canada’s natural resource development,” said Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

“Canada doesn’t need politicians and government bureaucrats pretending they know which project is in the national interest — Canada needs politicians and bureaucrats to stop getting in the way with high taxes and onerous regulations.”

These “nation-building” construction projects are the centrepiece of the PM’s plans to give Canada’s faltering economy, recovering from a decade of destructive governance and ongoing trade threats from the Donald Trump White House.

Carney’s expected to unveil the long-awaited list of projects on Thursday, as the Liberals wrap up caucus meetings in Edmonton ahead of next week’s return of the House of Commons.

Alex Brown, a director with the National Citizens Coalition, agreed Canada shouldn’t need a major projects office.

“This is sadly no surprise to those who noticed the rhetorical exit ramps being offered up in speeches and comments before and after the campaign,” he said.

“Anytime you talk about energy, you see words tossed in like ‘green’ and ‘clean,’ which are subjective when we know Canada’s undeniably the greenest and cleanest oil and gas producer in the world.”

Concerns are also being raised about the types of projects posited by pundits and observers — including reports on Wednesday that oil and gas pipelines won’t be part of Thursday’s project rollout.

That flies in the face of what Canadians are expecting, as recent Leger polling suggested nearly half of Canadians think oil and gas pipelines would have the greatest impact on the Canadian economy.

“These ‘crises’ are often government inflicted,” Brown said.

“This isn’t about the government picking more losers than winners, this is about opening up to our great energy producers to actually solve these problems.”

Terrazzano maintains Canada would be better served by overhauling existing policy.

“If Carney is serious about getting Canada’s economy firing on all cylinders, then he must go on a massive tax cutting campaign, scrap all carbon taxes and repeal the No More Pipelines Law, the discriminatory West Coast tanker ban, the oil and gas cap and immediately end the ban on the sale of new gas and diesel vehicles by 2035,” Terrazzano said.

“Ottawa is up to its eyeballs in debt and interest charges cost taxpayers more than $1 billion every week. Carney better not use taxpayers’ money to dole out corporate welfare.”