Court-backed consultation rules will set the pace for Canada’s next buildout. In KPMG’s 2025 poll of 250 Canadian business leaders, nine in 10 want governments to expedite and streamline reviews, including a national “energy‑agnostic” corridor. “Canada is already in a megaproject era,” KPMG’s infrastructure lead said, suggesting that the time to streamline is now.
Permits Decide Pace
The duty to consult is constitutional law. The Supreme Court set the modern standard in 2004, saying the Crown must consult and, where appropriate, accommodate before decisions that may affect Indigenous rights. That duty varies by impact, and it cannot be offloaded to proponents. If it is weak, courts can and do pull approvals.
Recent case law has shown real weight has been given since 2004. In 2017, the Supreme Court quashed a seismic testing authorization near Clyde River, finding consultation “fell short.” In 2018, the Federal Court of Appeal set aside the Trans Mountain expansion approval, ordering Canada to redo the late-stage consultation before re-approving in 2019. Northern Gateway’s approval was also quashed in 2016 for rushed, shallow engagement. Each time, schedules slipped because the law told them to.
Provinces are not insulated. In 2021, B.C.’s Supreme Court held the province had infringed Treaty 8 rights of Blueberry River First Nations by letting cumulative impacts pile up, then barred further unjustified approvals until a new regime was negotiated. That forced a permitting reset and a 2023 implementation agreement that still shapes oil and gas activity in the Montney. The message is plain: if consultation and cumulative effects work are thin, permits wait.
Courts Rewrite Schedules
Ottawa’s policy push to “build faster” adds a timing challenge. The government is advancing Bill C‑5 to accelerate nation‑building projects while saying consultation will be front and centre. “Consultation, co‑operation, engagement, participation is at the heart of C‑5,” the prime minister said in June. Within a month, nine First Nations filed a constitutional challenge arguing the new fast-track laws breach their rights.
Cost as always follows timing in Canada. Trans Mountain’s expansion entered service on May 1, 2024 with a C$34 billion price tag after years of rework, added conditions, and financing strain. In regulatory filings, the Crown corporation lists Indigenous accommodations among factors that raised costs. That is not an argument against doing the work, buts a reminder to fund and sequence it early to avoid higher prices in the future.
KPMG’s survey makes the politics look easy and the delivery hard. Ninety per cent want reviews streamlined, 90 per cent want the capital unlocked, and 92 per cent say better infrastructure boosts growth. It is telling that the release does not publish a number on legal risk from poor consultation. The risk is already posted in case law, and it is binary: get it right or get sent back.
If Canada wants a faster lane, the cheapest minutes are at the front end. Budget for early, deep, and documented consultation, with clear authority to accommodate, then lock timelines in the contracts. Otherwise, the calendar will be kept by judges.
