Since the United States brought a

trade war

to Canada, the country’s had a new sense of economic urgency. We heard about it in the federal election and we saw it — before Canada Day — when the government passed Bill C-5, which aims to tear down internal barriers between provinces and clear the way for projects in “the national interest.”

But there’s an old adage in business, made popular by author Stephen Covey: “You can only move at the speed of trust.” Ultimately, this factor may determine how quickly Canada can get its economic house in order.

At its most basic, trust is the precondition for human exchange, including commerce. In more advanced forms, trust can be a set of standards, qualifications or requirements that create a shorthand or assurance for certain practices: think safety codes or medical training. Though essential, these systems rely on bureaucracy, which in time can become so layered with rules and process that they begin to slow everything down. Commitments to reduce

internal trade barriers

between our provinces are a recognition that these standards and systems need to work together in order for our domestic economy to work properly. For that reason alone, Canada’s Bill C-5 marks a pivotal moment for us to get moving again.

The Constitution, and treaties between the Crown and Indigenous nations, are also meant to make trust tangible: to guarantee a range of rights, continuity, resources and so on. When he met First Nations chiefs in July, Prime Minister

Mark Carney

had to acknowledge that when trust is in short supply, or was previously broken, shared vision and agreement will be slow to form. No matter the urgency, undermining the principles of Indigenous rights, environmental considerations, or provincial jurisdiction will only delay projects and further undermine trust.

Meanwhile, the business community also has trust issues. Flip-flopping governments, and the pancake-stack of jurisdictional regulations create redundant and sometimes contradictory rules, consultation requirements, or varying standards that all have a cost. Project permits and approvals can delay projects by over 15 years. By that time, the project may no longer be viable because of inflation, easier opportunities elsewhere, or investors who long ago left the country.

Canada remains the second-least productive nation in the G7, and among the slowest for permit approvals in the OECD. Many parents and grandparents sense that our standard of living is declining: the next generation will not have the same opportunities or personal well-being they enjoyed in their time. To turn that around requires the conviction to focus on our economy and to “build big things,” as C-5 proposes to do.

If that’s the goal, it makes sense to start with the “big pieces” we already have. The Canadian Chamber’s Business Data Lab found that the natural resource sector (from oil and gas, to agriculture, to critical minerals) generates $377 billion in annual exports “accounting for nearly 50 per cent of Canada’s merchandise exports, and a $228 billion trade surplus … (while its) productivity is 2.5 times greater than that of the overall economy.” To expand our trade in such commodities requires the bridges, rails, ports, pipes and grid connectivity that allow us to move the “big pieces” of our economy across the country and around the world.

Jack Mintz and Philip Cross, in their paper titled Canada’s Resource Sector: Protecting the Golden Goose, write: “Leveraging our current energy and other resources to create new products like hydrogen, carbon fibres, metals, potash and minerals, agricultural products, and other potential manufactured innovations remains a key to Canada’s success. Further, given that an energy transition requires considerable time, we should take advantage of the demand in the world market for fossil fuels, especially natural gas as a transition fuel.”

There was another big milestone this Canada Day that shows this is possible: the first shipment from the

LNG Canada

terminal in Kitimat, B.C., in the territory of the Haisla Nation.

Chris Cooper, the company’s chief executive, has rightly called this “the launch of a new industry in Canada” — a brand-new product on our sales sheet. At $40 billion, LNG Canada is the largest private sector investment in Canadian history, and will contribute nearly $8 billion a year to Canada’s coffers. 50,000 Canadians were involved in the project, which only started construction in 2019, including 25,000 workers employed on the Coastal GasLink pipeline project that supplies the terminal.

The company has invested tens of millions in workforce development and long-term housing in Kitimat, Terrace, B.C., and local First Nations communities. Coastal GasLink will also provide product to the nearby Cedar LNG project, supported by the federal government and majority-owned and led by the Haisla Nation.

Haisla Nation Chief Councillor Crystal Smith said it best: “When LNG Canada first came to our territory over a decade ago, they, unlike so many others, chose to build a relationship first before even considering building a project…. So much has changed for our community since that first meeting. Our people, our country and the world are better off today, and will be for decades to come.”

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Big projects like this show us that it’s not just transactional

trade infrastructure

we need to build in Canada. If we do it right, and with urgency, the real nation-building project we may be starting is the possibility of a new trust between provinces, the federal government, Indigenous peoples and the business community.

Matthew Holmes is chief of public policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.