WCS Canada Response to Proposed Government of Canada Major Projects Reforms (Part 1)

Wildlife Conservation Society Canada [WCS Canada]

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Key points

This is the first of two WCS Canada submissions on this topic. Explore the resource library for part 2.

• On May 12, 2026, the Government of Canada announced a series of proposed legislative, regulatory, and policy reforms related to getting major projects built in Canada.
• The proposed reforms present significant risks for biodiversity, species-at-risk, fish and fish habitat, migratory birds, carbon-rich ecosystems, cumulative effects management, and Indigenous rights and responsibilities. They also don't get at the core problem plaguing Canada’s major projects system: its failure to surface ecological risks early and address them meaningfully, before project pathways are locked in.
• The path forward is clear: bring ecological risk into major project decisions earlier, apply the mitigation hierarchy consistently, manage cumulative effects at the regional scale, and build the ecological mapping and data systems needed for faster, more defensible decisions.

Recommended citation

Wildlife Conservation Society Canada [WCS Canada] (2026). WCS Canada Response to Proposed Government of Canada Major Projects Reforms (Part 1). Wildlife Conservation Society Canada [WCS Canada]. https://wcscanada.org/resources/wcs-canada-response-to-proposed-government-of-canada-major-projects-reforms/