On June 18, 2025, CCLA sent an open letter to the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, P.C., M.P., urging him to ensure that Part 2 of Bill C-5, the Building Canada Act, receives the detailed and meaningful parliamentary scrutiny it so desperately requires. In the absence of such a democratic dialogue, CCLA calls on Members of Parliament and Senators to vote against this sweeping piece of legislation.
The Building Canada Act grants the executive branch of federal government unfettered discretion in designating “national interest projects”, as well as sweeping powers to override federal laws that would otherwise apply to such projects.
These powers would enable Cabinet to handpick projects for which important legal safeguards could be disregarded, without Parliament being able to intervene. While the delegation of such powers to the executive branch is always concerning, it is particularly worrying when it allows a minority government to circumvent the usual democratic dialogue, as is the case here.
Rather than welcoming much-needed scrutiny regarding Bill C-5, the federal government has limited parliamentary debate and restricted its study by the House Committee to two days. Similarly, the Senate has, to date, scheduled only three days of consultation on this bill.
You can read CCLA’s letter here.
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