The Building Canada Act portion of Bill C-5 — now the law of the land — drew concern owing to its potential to override requirements for Indigenous consultation and environmental protection. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s September 11 announcement of five “projects of national interest” (PONIs) and creation of a Major Projects Office heightened these concerns.
Are there big national interest projects that could be built quickly and would benefit Canadians in multiple provinces? Probably.
Are there PONIs that would waste taxpayer money, damage the environment, and benefit only a minority? Yes.
Unfortunately, some are included in the prime minister’s announcement.
One such PONI — LNG Canada Phase 2, Kitimat, British Columbia — would “double LNG Canada’s production of liquefied natural gas, making it the second-largest facility of its kind in the world.” The article “Here’s how Canada’s LNG exports could make your heating bill go up” identifies this PONI’s real beneficiaries: Shell, Petronas, Korea Gas, PetroChina and Mitsubishi. Fracking for natural gas (methane) pollutes groundwater. Methane is the second leading greenhouse gas. Increasing LNG tanker traffic causes risks for marine life. Is this in the national interest?
Another PONI, the Darlington New Nuclear Project, would “make Canada the first G7 country to have an operational small modular reactor,” one that “would provide reliable, affordable, clean power.”
Reliable? An untested reactor design? The GE-Hitachi BWRX-300 reactor (non-Canadian) selected by Ontario Power Generation (OPG) for this project has never been licensed, much less built, even though Canada’s benign nuclear regulator awarded OPG a construction license. Affordable? The federal government has already given OPG $970M for this PONI. Clean? Nuclear reactors emit radioactive gases and produce intractable nuclear waste.
One wonders how Canadians who live outside the Toronto area would stand to benefit, and why this is a “major” project. A 300-megawatt power rating makes the BWRX-300 a rather large “small” modular reactor, but still only a third the size of OPG’s current reactors.
The federal and Ontario governments appear to be gambling that the BWRX-300 will prove to be a miracle design that will be built quickly, work perfectly, be mass produced, and exported around the world. The nuclear industry is desperately seeking a way out of the doldrums, described in detail in the World Nuclear Industry Status Report. The industry also undoubtedly hopes that Canada will match Russia and China in the extent to which public funding is provided. But those countries need reactors for their weapons programs, and we don’t.
Prime Minister Carney also announced six potential PONIs that are “at an earlier stage.” One is Pathways Plus: An Alberta-based carbon capture, utilization, and storage [CCUS} project.
CCUS is a form of geoengineering. David Suzuki explains how geoengineering projects “allow the destructive fossil fuel industry to keep operating.” They give false hopes of dealing with climate change without having to change our hyper-consumptive lifestyles. They suffer from lack of effectiveness, high cost, scale and time issues, environment risks and governance challenges. Despite the federal CCUS Investment Tax Credit, and Alberta’s Carbon Capture Incentive Program, the fossil fuel industry has not acted. Perhaps it’s hoping for more.
Another potential PONI, Wind West Atlantic Energy, would “leverage over 60 GW of wind power potential in Nova Scotia, and more across Atlantic Canada.” This PONI may have legs.
Wind power investments are surging globally but have been delayed by politicly-motivated roadblocks in Canada. Doug Ford’s government cancelled hundreds of renewable energy projects in 2018, only to flip-flop six years later. Alberta placed tight restrictions on projects last year. It is true that there are environmental issues with wind projects, but other jurisdictions appear to be successfully dealing with them. Unionization should be encouraged to help speed job creation and address health and safety issues in the wind industry.
Yet another possible future PONI is Alto High-Speed Rail, billed as “Canada’s first high-speed railway.” That being said, the federal government has studied high-speed rail for over half a century. Will creation of a Major Projects Office make a difference? Travellers who are sick of air travel and clogged highways can always hope, but don’t hold your breath.
Countries other than Canada seem capable of building faster and smarter. Canada’s federal government builds almost nothing. Provincial and municipal governments hardly build anything other than roads. For most infrastructure projects, money is funnelled to the private sector through public-private partnerships, grants, tax breaks, interest-free loans, and the like.
Bigger does not mean better. Nation building requires support for people: education, health, scientific research, environmental monitoring, job training. Strategies involving community-level investments from coast to coast to coast will likely provide greater overall benefits than export-driven investments.
We should be grateful to the Indigenous peoples who have been acting as nature’s caretakers for millennia. Nation-building strategies need not involve human-built infrastructure. Our beautiful lakes, forests, coasts, and prairies — natural infrastructure — make Canada a sought-after destination for people and businesses alike.
Bill C-5 may not get our national priorities straight. Let’s not let pursuit of economic gain jeopardize Canada’s natural wealth. Let’s put people and nature ahead of corporate profits.
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