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EDITOR’S NOTE
MEETING THE MOMENT
by John Tenpenny
WITH THE INTRODUCTION of Bill C- 39 (Building Canada Strong Act), the Government of Canada aims
to bring greater speed, certainty, and predictability to infrastructure project reviews, and give
business the con昀椀dence to invest in Canada, accelerate projects, while reshaping the regulatory
approvals process, and maintaining environmental standards and upholding Indigenous rights.
The major goal is to get projects built faster by ensuring federal reviews and decisions are completed within one year of a proponent submitting a comprehensive application.
“Canada is a country of high standards, but high standards do not require slow decisions,” said
Primed Minister Carney. “Our government is bringing speed, certainty, and predictability to how
we build, so investors know that when Canada says it wants something built, Canadians will get
it built. In a more uncertain world, we will control our own future.”
Recently, the feds o昀케cially listed the new West Coast Oil Pipeline, now known as Paci昀椀c Link,
as the 昀椀rst project of national interest under the Building Canada Act. Twenty-eight projects are
currently designated as nation-building initiatives with the newly created Major Projects O昀케ce.
It’s a big wish list.
Complicating these national goals is our recent track record of building large projects over budget and behind schedule, made more complicated by rising construction costs.
According to Statistics Canada, non-residential building construction prices rose 14 per cent in
the six years before the pandemic started in 2020.
In the six years since, construction prices have risen 45 per cent, double the general rate of
in昀氀ation. For the biggest projects, the rising costs are even more extreme.
In the transit sector, a study by the University of Toronto’s School of Cities showed that Canada
is among the most expensive jurisdictions in the OECD to build new transit projects. Subway construction costs in Toronto went from $200 million per kilometre in 2001 to upward of $2.2 billion
for the new Ontario Line.
A report last year from CSA Group outlined key strategies to reduce, in some cases, exorbitant
Canadian transit construction costs by improving project planning, standardizing designs, and
enhancing technical leadership.
“Unfortunately, the cost of infrastructure per kilometre is signi昀椀cantly higher in Canada than
in other countries, limiting how much can be built,” says the report’s author Jonathan English.
“Despite integrating past learnings, some projects under development in Canada are expected to
exceed $1B per kilometre. This is a Canada-wide problem.”
To mitigate against the high cost of rail and transit infrastructure projects, the report puts forward the following overarching recommendations:
Get the project right from the outset;
Make decisions intelligently and quickly;
Provide political backing for cost-lowering solutions; and
Standardize and don’t reinvent the wheel.
While transit and transportation projects have been highlighted, all the projects in the Major
Project O昀케ce’s pipeline (pun intended) should heed the advice and look at ways to prevent runaway budgets and timelines.
The opportunity and public support to build generational projects in Canada won’t last forever
and if we are going to take advantage of this moment, we need to be prepared with a plan, not
just a list.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2026
VOLUME 24, NUMBER 6
EDITOR
John Tenpenny
CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER
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CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
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ART DIRECTOR AND SENIOR DESIGNER
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