Premiers heap praise on meeting with Carney, but no specific projects identified

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Kyle Duggan and Jeremy Simes, June 2, 2025.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Monday’s gathering of the country’s premiers to talk over nation-building projects with Prime Minister Mark Carney was the “best” they have had in the last decade.

The comments amount to a lightly veiled jab at former prime minister Justin Trudeau, who frequently had frosty relations with the group, especially prairie premiers looking to build out their energy sectors.

Ford said the premiers, and the whole country along with them, stand united as Canada comes under attack from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs — even as some in the group scrapped over well-worn pipeline politics.

Provincial and territorial leaders sat down with Carney in Saskatoon on Monday and each premier came armed with wish lists of major projects they hope the federal government will deem to be in the national interest, then fast track for approval.

“The point is to build the certainty, the stability and the ambition that builders need to catalyze enormous investment — investment to make Canada into an energy superpower,” Carney said at the closing news conference.

While the group mulled over a number of potential “nation-building” natural resource and infrastructure developments in private, they did not release a final list afterward that would show they accomplished something concrete.

Still, Ford said there is no reason to take that as a bad sign.

“Nothing was carved in stone at this meeting,” he said, adding he had no expectations the prime minster would approve specific projects at this meeting.

“I described him today as Santa Claus. He’s coming and his sled was full of all sorts of stuff. Now he’s taking off back to the North Pole and he’s going to sort it out and he’s going to call us.”

The federal Liberals have yet to reveal in Parliament their promised legislation to speed up approvals for select projects to a maximum of two years. That could be tabled as early as this week.

When he was pressed on the lack of specifics after the meeting, Carney told reporters he could name lots of examples of contenders.

He then rattled off a list that included the Grays Bay Road and Port, which would connect southern Canada to the Arctic by road, along with the Ring of Fire mining project in northern Ontario. Notably, he name dropped the Pathways Alliance oilsands project, though he did not commit to any.

Carney said the group would refine what should count as priority projects over the summer months and touted that as “private proponents become aware of the opportunity here, we’re going to see more projects coming forward.” 

He said the upcoming federal legislation will also mandate meaningful consultation with Indigenous Peoples, including in which projects get picked and how they are developed.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith went into the meeting warning that any list that doesn’t include new pipelines would send a bad message to her province.

She left the meeting on a positive note, saying it’s up to political leaders to find a proponent for a new pipeline and that she’s willing to give this process a chance.

“I’m encouraged by the immediate change of tone that we’ve seen from recent months,” she said. “When we hear the prime minster talking about being an energy superpower, we haven’t heard that language for some time.”

Carney made a point to specify that “decarbonized” barrels of oil would be “within the broader context of national interest.”

“Yes, there’s real potential there,” he said. “It took up a good deal of our time in discussions with potential to move forward on that. If further developed, the federal government will look to advance it.”

Smith touted the Pathways Alliance project, a group of major Canadian oilsands companies that argues it can fight climate change through using carbon capture and storage to reduce emissions, as a way to do that.

“There’s lots of ways to decarbonize, but the Pathways project is an expensive project,” she said.

“It would cost anywhere from $10 to $20 billion to get built. And to make the economic case for that, having more egress with more barrels to be sold to Asia is going to pay for it. If we had a million-barrel-a-day pipeline going to the northwest B.C. coast, that would generate about $20 billion a year in revenues, and so that seems like a pretty good value proposition.”

But headed into the meeting, B.C. deputy premier Niki Sharma said Smith’s proposal for a bitumen pipeline to B.C.’s northern coast, such as by reviving the stalled Northern Gateway, has “no proponent” at this stage.

“We are focusing on these shovel-ready projects, not theoretical projects with no proponents,” Sharma said in a statement sent afterward. “There is also an existing, underused pipeline Canadian taxpayers paid $34 billion for, with capacity to spare.”

(Updated) Ontario expected to pass controversial mining law; Ford warns against blockades

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Liam Casey and Allison Jones, June 4, 2025

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government is expected to pass a controversial mining law that gives it the power to suspend provincial and municipal laws for chosen projects in areas it deems to have economic importance.

If Bill 5 ends up being challenged and found unconstitutional in court, Ford wouldn’t say if he would use the notwithstanding clause to save it, but says that he would “cross that bridge” when he comes to it.

The proposed legislation has sparked an angry backlash from First Nations who say the bill tramples their rights and ignores their concerns and they have warned they may blockade roads and railways in protest.

But Ford said Wednesday that wouldn’t be “very wise.”

“You can’t break the law,” Ford said. “Simple as that…They need to move on or they’ll be dealt with appropriately.”

When asked to clarify his comments, Ford said he doesn’t direct the police and any enforcement would be up to the Ontario Provincial Police or local police services.

The legislation proposes to create so-called “special economic zones,” where the government could suspend laws in order to speed up projects such as mines. Ford cites the need to move more quickly on mining places such as the Ring of Fire in order to strengthen the province’s economy while it is under attack from U.S. President Donald Trump.

NDP deputy leader Sol Mamakwa, who represents the northern Ontario riding of Kiiwetinoong that is home to many First Nations and the Ring of Fire, said that Ford is not listening to their concerns.

“This is not the wild, wild west,” he said, surrounded by several people who flew in from various communities in his riding.

“We are the ones that live in these communities on these lands. He does not live in those lands…You cannot vote legislatively bulldoze your way. These are the people that will stop that bulldozer coming north.”

Ford’s government is fast-tracking the bill and limiting third-reading debate and while the opposition parties tried to stall the bill at the committee stage, it is set to return to the legislature Wednesday afternoon for third reading and an expected final vote.

In response to the growing backlash, Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford and Mining Minister Stephen Lecce said late last month that the province would amend Bill 5 to explicitly include duty to consult provisions throughout the legislation.

That amendment did not end up making it in the bill due to the tactics the Liberals used in committee.

Ford said it’s unfortunate that opposition parties wanted to “drag this out,” but his government will consult with First Nations over the coming months.

“When it comes to duty to consult, which is very important, and we are going to do it, if they have an equity partnership it moves like greased lightning,” he said. 

) Ports, mines and pipelines top premiers’ wish lists ahead of meeting with Carney

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Catherine Morrison, June 1, 2025. 

Canada’s premiers are heading into a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney in Saskatoon Monday armed with their wish lists for major “nation-building” projects that could buttress the economy in the face of a U.S. trade war.

Carney asked the premiers to each pass on five suggestions for national infrastructure projects, and Monday’s meeting will aim to identify the ones that will make the final cut to be fast-tracked using legislation Ottawa may introduce as early as this week.

The conversation is taking place against the backdrop of an ongoing trade war with the United States, renewed debate about separatism in Alberta and a push to break down interprovincial trade barriers to encourage more trade between provinces and less reliance on trade with the U.S.

That push already had a sense of urgency, following several months of unpredictable tariff moves by President Donald Trump, but got another injection of reality on Friday, as Trump indicated plans to double already damaging tariffs on steel and aluminum from 25 per cent to 50 per cent on June 4.

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a statement Saturday that Ottawa has “taken note” of that new plan and remains “resolute” to defend Canadian workers and communities.

“We can give ourselves far more than the United States can take from us,” he said on X. “That’s why this Monday, the prime minister will meet with premiers in Saskatoon with one goal — build one Canadian economy out of thirteen, and get big, nation-building projects built faster.”

The federal government is developing what it calls a “national interest” bill to fast-track a small number of nation-building projects with a streamlined regulatory approval process as a substitute for reviews under the Impact Assessment Act.

Which projects are the main topic of debate on Monday, with a heavy emphasis on critical minerals mining, energy and ports.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Friday his priority is mining in the “Ring of Fire,” a region about 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Ont., that contains massive deposits of critical minerals. Another priority is building a new nuclear plant in the province.

Ford said he believes Carney will pick a few priorities across the country that would have a major impact.

“One has to be the pipelines,” Ford said, adding Canada can’t “be relying on the U.S. any longer” as its primary energy customer.

Ford said he believes Carney wants to work collaboratively with the provinces and that Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe told him Friday morning he’s excited to host the event.

“I think a priority is to bring the whole country together,” Ford said. “The previous government and previous prime minister didn’t show enough love, in my opinion, to Alberta and Saskatchewan. We have to be a united country.”

Moe offered to host the meeting when he spoke with Carney soon after the federal election. Moe said in a social media in May that this will be the first meeting between the prime minister and the premiers held in his province in 40 years.

The gathering comes as both Saskatchewan and Manitoba have declared provincewide states of emergency as wildfires threaten communities in remote northern regions. In Manitoba, 17,000 residents have been forced from their homes in recent days, while more than 4,000 people in Saskatchewan have had to evacuate.

In a mid-May letter to Carney, Moe pitched 10 policy changes he said the federal government should make to reset Ottawa’s relationship with Saskatchewan.

His requests include starting negotiations with China to remove its tariffs on Canadian agri-food products, repealing the oil and gas emissions cap, expanding pipeline capacity and building trade and economic corridors across the country.

“Your government has the ability to move forward on all 10 of these items quickly, which would clearly signal a new, more positive relationship between Saskatchewan and the federal government than we have had for the past 10 years,” the letter said.

In May, New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt shared on social media her province’s priorities for nation-building projects, including critical mineral projects that are ready to move now.

She said New Brunswick ports are “ready to increase national and international trade with additional investments” and that the province is a leader in modular home building, ready to “tap into investments to tackle the national housing crisis.”

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew also sent Carney a letter in May pitching federal-provincial partnership on several projects, including a trade corridor through the Port of Churchill, establishing Indigenous “fair trade zones” and developing critical minerals infrastructure. In his letter, Kinew called his province “the Costco of critical minerals.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s office declined to provide a statement ahead of the meeting, saying the premier has made her priorities for the federal government clear in recent weeks. 

British Columbia will be represented at the meeting by deputy premier Niki Sharma, as Premier David Eby left Saturday for a 10-day trade trip to Asia. Eby’s office said he booked his trade diversification mission trip to Japan, South Korea and Malaysia before the first ministers meeting was scheduled, and virtual attendance isn’t possible because of the time difference.

A May 1 letter from Eby to Carney cited four “priority areas” he said require closer partnership between B.C. and Ottawa: the ongoing softwood lumber dispute, efforts to streamline rail and trade corridors, clean energy and critical mineral projects, and housing affordability and homelessness.

— With files from Jack Farrell in Edmonton, Allison Jones in Toronto and Wolfgang Depner in Victoria

2) ‘Crazy idea’: Ontario councillors push back as strong mayor powers reach small towns

Courtesy Barrie360.com

By Cassidy McMackon, June 1, 2025

A month after Ontario’s government extended strong mayor powers to a swath of new municipalities, some leaders are promising never to use the measures — but a chorus of small-town councillors warn that local democracy is under threat.

As of May 1, another 169 mayors in the province can now veto bylaws, pass new ones with just one-third of council in favour and hire or fire municipal department heads unilaterally. 

Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Rob Flack said last month that the province decided to more than triple the number of mayors who can access the powers in an effort to build housing faster and streamline local governance. 

The measures were first introduced in 2022 and initially only applied to the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa, Ontario’s two most populous cities.

Several municipalities are taking active steps to reject the powers now that they have been granted more widely.

Mark Hunter, one of 10 city councillors in Stratford, recently got unanimous support for his motion to reject the new powers. Hunter said it was symbolic and designed to show that municipal democracy shouldn’t be “subject to provincial whim.”

“What it effectively does is get rid of majority rule in our council,” he said. 

“It’s the expectation of the residents in our community that their representatives are able to fully represent them and this change puts some level of diminishment on that.”

Hunter said his fellow councillors can have strong disagreements at council, but lively discussions result in better decisions for the community. Anything that diminishes that discussion is worse for residents, he said.

Councillors aren’t concerned about Stratford’s current mayor abusing his power, said Hunter, but they are worried about what could happen in the future.

“It’s another example of concentrating power in fewer hands. Unfortunately in human history, that doesn’t always work out so well,” he said.

David O’Neil, a councillor in Quinte West, said he is also concerned about strong mayor powers, adding they represent “a real misdirection” by the province.

“I think this decision is on par with the crazy idea of building a tunnel under the 401,” O’Neil said, referring to Premier Doug Ford’s promise to add a tunnel under the major Ontario highway.

He added he is skeptical that strong mayor powers would lead to new housing being built in his community, and thinks the province should waive development fees if it wants to see more housing built. 

Zack Card, another councillor for Quinte West, said he believes the expansion of the strong mayor powers will “erode the democratic traditions of municipal councils in Ontario.”

“I believe effective councils work collaboratively and with an understanding that all voices carry equal weight. Tipping that balance could potentially hinder governance and make solving issues within our communities more difficult,” Card wrote in an email.

Neither O’Neil nor Card would speak to the recent dismissal of the municipality’s chief administration officer, which was described on the municipality’s website as a “mayoral decision” pursuant to the legislation, made on the first day the powers were available.

Quinte West Mayor Jim Harrison said in an email to The Canadian Press that “the decision was made in close collaboration and consensus with council, utilizing strong mayor powers to move forward.” 

Less than a week after the decision, he told a council meeting that he wasn’t planning to make use of the strong mayor powers.

O’Neil suggested his concern is more future-oriented: it’s unclear what could a different sort of mayor do with these powers five, 10 or 20 years down the road.

David Arbuckle, executive director of the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario, said unilateral power threatens a local government’s administrative authority and staffers’ ability to give non-partisan, evidence-based advice.

“It’s changed the dynamic where (a city staffer) now has to be mindful of the fact that they could be hired or fired by the mayor at any point in time,” Arbuckle said in a recent interview.

“The advice they’re bringing forward may not be as neutral as possible because ultimately they are now responding to one individual.” 

Corey Engelsdorfer,a councillor from Prince Edward County, said he’s worried the powers will exacerbate existing divisions on his council and, should they be used, could “sideline” constituents even as the community experiences a boom in development.

The traditional model of majority rule is already divisive, Engelsdorfer said — especially when it comes to housing decisions — so decisions being made with even less support could lead to even more public cynicism.

“The way we build homes is by working together as a council and not by one person or a third of council pushing through what they want to push through,” he said.

“I always hear Premier Ford say that these changes cut red tape, but democracy to me is not red tape. I don’t think it’s something that needs to be in place at all.”

Mayor Steve Ferguson said in an interview that he was working to defer several of the strong mayor powers, including personnel decisions, back to council.

The council also unanimously passed a resolution asking the province to rescind strong mayor legislation, Engelsdorfer said.

Despite the concerns, Matti Siemiatycki, director of the University of Toronto’s Infrastructure Institute and a professor of geography and planning, said the uptake of the powers has been “fairly underwhelming.”

Before last month, there were only 46 so-called strong mayors in Ontario. Only a few made use of their powers. 

High-profile examples include Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath advancing affordable housing development on two municipal parking lots in April 2024, and Mississauga’s former mayor Bonnie Crombie passing bylaws to build fourplexes in October 2023.

But Siemiatycki said he fears there’s greater risk for strong mayor powers to go unchecked in smaller municipalities, where there is less oversight and, often, less journalistic scrutiny.

“We’ve seen an erosion and a decline of the local presses across Canada, and it’s no more visible than in small communities,” he said.

“If you’re concentrating powers, what’s really needed is external oversight bodies. And the media is one of those, so smaller communities might struggle to have that accountability and people being aware of what’s happening.”

Siemiatycki said while he sympathizes with the province’s desire to tackle a housing and infrastructure crisis, he agrees with the councillors who have raised concerns. 

“It doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll go further just because you’re aiming to go faster,” he said. 

“The thing that’s more sustainable over the long term is acceleration through processes that have very clear accountabilities and timelines to them.”