{"id":98335,"date":"2025-10-21T12:28:35","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T16:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=98335"},"modified":"2025-10-21T12:28:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T16:28:35","slug":"ottawa-hasnt-defined-national-interest-under-major-projects-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/21\/ottawa-hasnt-defined-national-interest-under-major-projects-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa hasn&#8217;t defined &#8216;national interest&#8217; under major projects law"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Nick Murray The federal government still has not issued specific criteria to define the &#8220;national interest&#8221; under its new major projects law, despite calls from MPs to do so. The Building Canada Act allows the government to identify projects in the &#8220;national interest&#8221; for faster approval processes, which could include exemptions from certain environmental laws. As the government rushed the bill through the House of Commons in June, MPs studying it at the committee stage amended it to suggest that the government offer its criteria for determining which projects are in the national interest, and to require it to issue a timeline for when that might happen. The amendment was moved by the Conservatives and narrowly passed on a 5-4 vote, with the Liberals opposing it. In response, Privy&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F10%2F21%2Fottawa-hasnt-defined-national-interest-under-major-projects-law%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Nick Murray The federal government still has not issued specific criteria to define the &#8220;national interest&#8221; under its new major projects law, despite calls from MPs to do so. The Building Canada Act allows the government to identify projects in the &#8220;national interest&#8221; for faster approval processes, which could include exemptions from certain environmental laws. As the government rushed the bill through the House of Commons in June, MPs studying it at the committee stage amended it to suggest that the government offer its criteria for determining which projects are in the national interest, and to require it to issue a timeline for when that might happen. The amendment was moved by the Conservatives and narrowly passed on a 5-4 vote, with the Liberals opposing it. In response, Privy... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F10%2F21%2Fottawa-hasnt-defined-national-interest-under-major-projects-law%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ottawa hasn&#039;t defined &#039;national interest&#039; under major projects law - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/21\/ottawa-hasnt-defined-national-interest-under-major-projects-law\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ottawa hasn&#039;t defined &#039;national interest&#039; under major projects law - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Nick Murray The federal government still has not issued specific criteria to define the &#8220;national interest&#8221; under its new major projects law, despite calls from MPs to do so. The Building Canada Act allows the government to identify projects in the &#8220;national interest&#8221; for faster approval processes, which could include exemptions from certain environmental laws. As the government rushed the bill through the House of Commons in June, MPs studying it at the committee stage amended it to suggest that the government offer its criteria for determining which projects are in the national interest, and to require it to issue a timeline for when that might happen. The amendment was moved by the Conservatives and narrowly passed on a 5-4 vote, with the Liberals opposing it. 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