Bill C-39: the Bulldoze Nature Bill

The federal government has introduced new legislation under the guise of improving how major projects are assessed, approved and regulated in Canada.

Bill C-39, the so-called Building Canada Strong Act, would make sweeping changes to environmental protections and how major projects move forward—with potentially serious consequences for the Salish Sea and ecosystems across the country.

We’re calling it the Bulldoze Nature Bill.

The Salish Sea is already under enormous pressure from industrial development, habitat loss, pollution and climate change. Bill C-39 risks weakening some of the safeguards meant to ensure that new development doesn’t come at the expense of species, ecosystems and communities.

We’re working with our allies to understand the full consequences of the legislation and what we can do about it. But there are already some major red flags.

🚩Project approvals within one year, with pre-approval upon submission

Under Bill C-39, the focus of major project assessment would shift from whether a project should proceed to how it can move ahead.

Even more concerning, construction activities could begin before an impact assessment decision has been made where a project is considered to be in the “public interest.”

That has serious implications for Indigenous communities, species at risk, vulnerable habitats and the more than nine million people who call the Salish Sea region home.

🚩Changes to the Species at Risk Act

Bill C-39 would also change how conditions intended to protect species at risk and their habitat can be applied.

If conditions for protecting a species or its habitat are deemed not “feasible,” those conditions could be amended. Taken together with Bill C-5, these changes could give the federal government significantly greater ability to override or alter protections under the Species at Risk Act for major projects.

For the critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales, this matters enormously.

Their survival and recovery already depend on addressing cumulative threats including underwater noise, lack of Chinook salmon and contaminants. Environmental protections should determine what development is possible—not be rewritten when protecting a species becomes inconvenient.

🚩Changes to the Fisheries Act

The legislation would make similar changes affecting the Fisheries Act, including provisions allowing the use of habitat credits or payments into the Environmental Damages Fund to address impacts to fish habitat.

But some losses cannot simply be offset somewhere else.

Once critical habitat is destroyed, degraded or fragmented, a financial payment does not necessarily recreate the ecosystem that was lost—or restore its role for the species and communities that depend on it.

🚩Regions of National Interest

Bill C-39 would also allow entire Regions of National Interest to be designated, potentially reducing project-by-project scrutiny by establishing areas where suites of projects can be advanced.

For the Salish Sea, the cumulative impact of development is already one of our greatest concerns.

More shipping, port expansion, pollution, underwater noise and habitat destruction don’t happen independently of one another. Together, they place increasing pressure on an ecosystem already struggling to support species such as Southern Resident killer whales and wild salmon.

We cannot allow the Salish Sea to become an industrial corridor.

🚩Existing environmental conditions could be changed

The legislation could also allow conditions attached to Projects of National Interest to be amended.

That is particularly concerning in the context of projects such as Roberts Bank Terminal 2, where environmental conditions are intended to reduce impacts on Southern Resident killer whales and their critical habitat.

If a project cannot meet the conditions established to protect an endangered species, the answer should not simply be to weaken or remove those conditions.

What does “national interest” mean?

Bill C-39 doesn’t exist in isolation.

Alongside Bill C-5 and the federal government’s push to accelerate major projects, it represents a significant shift in how decisions about development and environmental protection could be made in Canada.

And that raises a much bigger question: What does progress look like?

For us, progress means knowing there are still wild places to explore. It means salmon returning to rivers and whales swimming in the Salish Sea.

It means healthy oceans, abundant wildlife and strong communities.

The health of the natural world cannot be treated as an obstacle to progress. It is fundamental to healthy, resilient communities and the places we call home.

As governments make decisions about projects they consider to be in the “national interest,” we’ll continue paying close attention, working with our allies and speaking up for the Salish Sea.

Because protecting ecosystems, wildlife, and communities must be part of Canada’s national interest too.