One Year, Full Stop: Canada Rewrites Its Approval Rules

Federal reforms propose a hard one-year cap on project approvals, cutting years from Canada's CCUS review process

21 May 2026

Ottawa is moving to place a hard limit on federal project review timelines. On May 8, 2026, the Carney government published a discussion paper proposing a one-year cap on all federal approvals, measured from the point at which a proponent has submitted complete documentation. Public consultation closes June 7. Legislation is expected to follow promptly.

The proposals extend well beyond the Building Canada Act, passed in June 2025, which applied expedited review only to a defined list of nationally significant projects. Under the new framework, a single decision document from the Minister of the Environment would replace the multiple departmental approvals that have historically prolonged timelines. A Federal Review Coordinator, housed within the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, would run environmental assessments and permit applications concurrently rather than in sequence.

Pipelines and offshore energy assets would remain under Canadian Energy Regulator authority and would be exempt from separate impact assessment requirements.

For carbon capture developers, the implications are material. Large-scale CCUS facilities, including geological storage sites, CO2 injection networks, and industrial capture units, have faced federal processes that legal analysts estimate can run five years or more under current rules. Sharply reduced approval timelines would lower capital risk for a sector that many developers say has investment ready to deploy.

Durability questions remain. Legal observers at McCarthy Tétrault warned that expedited decisions must withstand jurisdictional disputes and court challenges to hold. Indigenous rights groups have also raised concerns; similar provisions under the Building Canada Act drew opposition from several nations. A new Crown Consultation Hub within the IAAC is designed to manage this through coordinated engagement, though analysts are cautious about its effectiveness.

Faster, more predictable approvals may prove decisive in attracting clean energy capital from competing jurisdictions.