Carney’s major-projects bill C-39 clears first vote, 296-26

Bill C-39, the Carney government’s signature major-projects bill, cleared its first House of Commons vote 296-26 last Thursday, with Conservatives voting alongside the majority Liberals to send the legislation to a special committee for study.

What Bill C-39 would do

The sweeping bill extends the government’s “one project, one review, within one year” approach — first applied to nation-building projects under the Building Canada Act — to major infrastructure across the country. The government frames it as core to pivoting the economy away from reliance on the United States and positioning Canada as a reliable partner for overseas markets.

Opposition from the flanks

The NDP and Greens were denied seats on the special committee, a move NDP House leader Don Davies called “fundamentally undemocratic.” Green Leader Elizabeth May branded the bill the “omnibus of omnibuses.” Labour groups, including Canadian Labour Congress president Bea Bruske, warn provisions letting the jobs minister intervene in federally regulated work stoppages undermine bargaining rights — a charge Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu rejects, saying the changes add “guardrails” around ministerial power.

Indigenous opposition is also mounting: Cold Lake First Nations has filed for judicial review of the Pacific Link pipeline’s national-interest designation, and Chief Shelly Moore-Frappier told a Ottawa press conference the fast-track approach first billed as temporary “takes it and makes it permanent.”

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said his party supported committee study to seek amendments.

Updated – October 25, 2026: The special committee’s hearings are now underway, and more than 50 Royal Society of Canada fellows have written urging changes to the bill’s environmental provisions. A list of specific Conservative amendment requests has been removed pending verification.