C-5 · 45-1

One Canadian Economy Act

An Act to enact the Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada Act and the Building Canada Act

Law (royal assent given)
Currently at: Law Introduced Jun 6. Reached Law on Jun 26.
Trade & EconomyLabour & EmploymentTransport & InfrastructureHouse of CommonsDominic LeBlanc· Liberal198 lobbied
Introduced
2025-06-06
Debated
25+ mentions in Parliament
Sponsor
Dominic LeBlanc · Liberal · Beauséjour (NB)
Summary

The One Canadian Economy Act has two main parts, each creating a new law.

The first part, the Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada Act, is meant to make it easier to move goods, provide services, and work across provincial and territorial lines. If a good or service already meets a province's or territory's rules, it will automatically be treated as meeting comparable federal rules for interprovincial trade purposes. Similarly, if a worker holds a valid provincial or territorial licence or certification to practise a job or trade, federal regulators must recognize that credential as comparable and issue the worker an equivalent federal authorization on request. Cabinet is given power to make regulations to carry this out, and a designated federal minister oversees the system, with a review of how the law is working required within five years.

The second part, the Building Canada Act, lets the federal cabinet declare certain projects to be "national interest projects" by adding them to a schedule, based on factors like strengthening Canada's economy, security, or autonomy, benefiting Indigenous peoples, or supporting clean growth. Before doing so, the government must publish notice, consult the affected province or territory (and get its written consent if the project touches areas of exclusive provincial jurisdiction), and consult Indigenous peoples whose rights could be affected. Once a project is listed, the many federal approvals normally needed under specified laws and regulations (covering things like fisheries, navigable waters, environmental protection, and species at risk) are deemed to be decided in favour of the project going ahead. The responsible minister then issues a single document that stands in for all the individual permits and approvals still legally required, subject to conditions, after consulting the relevant regulators and affected Indigenous groups; this fast-tracked approval does not apply to certain sensitive statutes like the Criminal Code, the Indian Act, or the Official Languages Act, which are excluded from this process. The law also requires public registries of information about each project, annual independent reviews of project progress, and periodic reporting to Parliament, including oversight by a special parliamentary committee. Cabinet's power to name new national interest projects or add laws to the fast-tracked list expires after five years.

Powers and oversight

This bill enacts two new statutes: the Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada Act, which treats goods, services and worker authorizations meeting provincial or territorial requirements as meeting comparable federal ones, and the Building Canada Act, which lets Cabinet designate "national interest projects" and deem federal authorizations for them to be granted.

  • Federal-provincial deeming (Part 1) — a good, service, or occupational authorization that meets a provincial or territorial requirement is treated as meeting a "comparable" federal requirement; the responsible federal regulatory body decides what counts as comparable, and the Governor in Council (Cabinet) may make regulations setting exceptions, obligations, or conditions.
  • Immunity from lawsuits — no civil action can be brought against the Crown, its agents, or federal regulatory bodies for good-faith acts under the comparability or recognition provisions, except judicial review or Canadian Free Trade Agreement proceedings.
  • National interest project designation (Part 2) — Cabinet, on a minister's recommendation, may add any project to Schedule 1, deeming it in the "national interest" under criteria Cabinet itself defines by order; this power cannot be used while Parliament is prorogued or dissolved, or after five years from the section's coming into force.
  • Deemed approvals — once a project is listed, determinations, findings and opinions needed for authorizations under listed Acts and regulations (Schedule 2) are deemed made in favour of the project; the designated minister must then issue a single document deemed to be all specified authorizations, subject to conditions the minister sets and can later amend.
  • Exemption from normal review — for projects that are also "designated projects" under the Impact Assessment Act, most of that Act's assessment steps and timelines are disapplied, with the Impact Assessment Agency deemed to have already decided a review is required.
  • Oversight mechanisms — a public registry of projects, an annual independent status review tabled in Parliament, and review by a Parliamentary Review Committee (chaired on the Commons side by a non-government-party MP) every 180 days, plus a five-year statutory review of each Act; Schedule 2 (the list of laws subject to deeming) can be amended by Cabinet, though it cannot add certain named statutes such as the Criminal Code, Indian Act, or Official Languages Act.

Read from the bill's own text by AI. It describes what the bill allows, not whether that is justified.

Stage history

  1. Proposal — introduced (House 1st reading)Jun 6, 2025
  2. House — 2nd readingJun 16, 2025 · 10 days later
  3. House — 3rd readingJun 20, 2025 · 4 days later
  4. Senate — 1st readingJun 25, 2025 · 5 days later
  5. Senate — 2nd readingJun 25, 2025 · same day
  6. Senate — 3rd readingJun 26, 2025 · 1 day later
  7. LawJun 26, 2025 · same day
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