OTTAWA — Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said he is "hopeful" that the government will start announcing major infrastructure project approvals in the fall.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Hodgson said the federal government has been busy consulting with stakeholders over the summer and has been quietly getting a new major projects office set up to deal with companies hoping to build large-scale projects.
When pressed what "fall" means, since Parliament's fall sitting is scheduled to run from Sept. 15 to Dec. 12, Hodgson would not be more specific, but said Prime Minster Mark Carney "doesn't like sitting around" and that the government intends to move quickly.
"We did not take the summer off, we got to work right away," he said. ""The prime minister and the team have been very, very busy, so we would prefer sooner rather than later and it'll be in the fall."
It's been just over seven weeks since the Liberal government rushed the Building Canada Act through Parliament in June, which lets Ottawa quickly approve major projects it considers to be in the national interest.
Carney has said the office that will deal with these large-scale industrial projects should be stood up and fully running by Labour Day, though the government has so far made few details about this new office public, such as how many people will staff it.
The natural resources minister said he's been in talks about a range of projects but would not disclose any details.
"We've talked about all kinds of projects," he said. "We have significant generation projects, be they wind, onshore, offshore, be they natural gas, LNG, be they decarbonized oil, be they nuclear — there's all kinds of potential projects being looked at."
Hodgson also said he's strongly interested in advancing critical minerals projects — the mining of key minerals and metals that are important components of modern technology, ranging from electric vehicle components to advanced military gear.
"Critical minerals is an extremely significant part of my portfolio and something that's a real priority given the geopolitical and economic challenges of the world right now. It's something we're spending a lot of time on."
The new law gives the federal government sweeping powers to speed up permitting when the government determines a project to be in the national interest.
The law sets out that the government can consider five criteria when making that determination: whether a project will strengthen Canada’s resilience and security, provide economic or "other benefits" to the country, have a "high likelihood" of success, advance the interests of Indigenous peoples and contribute to "clean growth."
However, Ottawa has not yet publicly revealed the names of any such projects that it is considering to fast track like this.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 20, 2025.
Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press
