The Hill Times
TORONTO— Mark Carney is in a hurry. He is directing the public service to focus on results and hurry up on his government’s priority: delivering major nation-building projects. On the heels of his personal election victory, Carney has a surplus of political capital and is rushing to take advantage before there is inevitable ebb.
Public opinion supports accelerated timelines for infrastructure projects deemed to be in the national interest. The government is promising approvals for such projects within two years. However, many people, including some Senators, do not want to prioritize speed at the expense of environmental concerns, or without the concurrence of Indigenous Peoples and affected provincial governments. The prime minister wants to reconfigure Canada’s economic foundations. Speed has often driven major projects in the past, from the canals and railroads of Lower and Upper Canada in the first half of the 19th century to the transcontinental telegraph and railroads delivered by Confederation. In the 20th century, the colonization of the Prairies, the Trans Canada Highway, the Trans Canada natural gas pipeline, and the St. Lawrence Seaway further bonded regions and people economically and psychologically. So too did the creation of institutions such as the Bank of Canada, the CBC, and the National Film Board. The latter were produced by a smaller, more efficient public service, which is also promised by Carney. Major projects sometimes came on the backs of minority groups when there was an institutionalized ethnic pecking order. Discrimination and racism were once Canadian values. Irish peasant stock built the early canals and railroads for Anglo-Scotch employers who regarded them as uncultivated, ignorant, belligerent, and indolent outcasts. Worked like horses, they died like flies. Thousands of Chinese, targeted by legalized racial discrimination, were imported to help construct the CPR. Eastern Europeans were brought into the country by Ottawa to populate the prairies but relegated to economically marginal northerly farmland. Immigration officers preferred British settlers. At times a foreign actor held up a major nation-building project. Although Canada and the United States had agreed in 1941 to build the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Americans failed to ratify the agreement until the following decade and did so only when Ottawa told them that if vacillation persisted, Canada would finance the Seaway itself and toll American ships to help offset the cost. Provincial governments may also delay or jettison a major national infrastructure project. Ottawa acquired land for a new GTA international airport in Pickering in 1972, but had to abandon the project when Queen’s Park—listening to residents, farmers, environmentalists, and municipal officials—announced that the province would not build the roads and sewers essential to service the airport without a thorough needs assessment. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has announced that a new private-sector proposal for an oil pipeline to the West Coast—the type of priority project Energy Minister Tim Hodgson is looking for—is coming soon. We shall see. In exchange for building such a pipeline, she wants Ottawa to underwrite a pipeline project of six major oilsands companies to transport CO2 emissions captured at their facilities to a distant underground site. Carbon capture and storage is technically feasible, but would it be cost-effective? The International Energy Agency has doubts, saying the CCS experience to date has “largely been one of unmet expectations.” Carney has promised the elimination of interprovincial trade barriers, because they limit competition, hinder innovation, and reduce overall productivity. The government has already acted to eliminate most federal barriers, but they are not as significant as provincial barriers, whose elimination is beyond Ottawa’s scope. Some observers estimate they reduce Canada’s GDP as much as four per cent. Others suggest there are annual potential gains to be had of up to $200-billion. Many provincial trade officials deny that there are significant barriers beyond governments’ procurement policies. Most barriers relate to professional credentials, licensing, and trucking. Is it in the public’s interest for nurses licensed in one province to be licensed automatically in another? Manitoba’s College of Registered Nurses offers a cautionary tale. It alleges that two internationally trained nurses, licensed in an unnamed province, have contributed to preventable deaths. Carney has demonstrated sure-footedness and confidence in his vision of transforming Canada’s economic fundamentals. He promises dramatic productivity growth and to build the fastest growing economy in the G7. These are high bars. The public and the opposition Conservatives are cheering him on. However, many of the high cards in his quest are not in his hands. Canada’s complicated institutional structures, its position as the neighbour of a declining, unpredictable United States, and the volatile geopolitical evolution of world affairs will all contribute to shaping his legacy. Nelson Wiseman is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Toronto. The Hill Times
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