Iqaluit’s hydro project and the limits of Carney’s fast track

It’s been more than six months since Prime Minister Mark Carney’s plan to fast-track infrastructure projects of national importance became law, but the conveyor belt hasn’t really started moving yet.

Parliament passed Bill C-5 — the One Canadian Economy Act — in June 2025. It created the Major Projects Office to speed up the permitting of projects the federal government deems important to Canada’s national interest.

With a list of 13 projects from around the country, including a hydroelectric plant for Iqaluit, referred to this office, Nunatsiaq News looked at what fast-tracking might mean for Nunavut.

As of now, the Major Projects Office has not accepted any projects.

Cabinet will have final say on which of the 13 projects end up on the fast track. When this happens, the chosen projects will get upfront federal approvals “shifting the focus of regulatory review from ‘whether’ to proceed to ‘how’ the project can proceed.”

It’s not clear when cabinet will start this work, but from there, the idea is projects get federal permitting within two years.

The review process for large infrastructure projects in Nunavut often takes between seven and 10 years, said Hudson Lester, the Nunavut general manager of NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines.

The B2Gold Goose Gold Mine opened in September after a decade-long push that included federal and territorial permitting, environmental and water licensing and feasibility studies.

“Streamlining things to two years – I think that could do wonders for Nunavut,” Lester said.

The Nunavut government and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. have identified four “nation-building” projects on their fast-track wish list — Qikiqtarjuaq port, Iqaluit hydroelectric project, Kivalliq hydro-fibre link and Grays Bay road and port.

All have been in the works for decades, with plans for a deepsea port in Qikiqtarjuaq going back to the 1950s.

They are being “studied to death” — stalled in decades-long review processes like many big infrastructure projects across Canada, said Carleton University business professor Ian Lee.

The federal law is supposed to change that, which is “exactly what the doctor ordered,” Lee said.

But he shared some reservations.

Major Projects Office – government ‘blessing’

Speeding up permits will lessen the risk in private investment in infrastructure projects, Lee said, but this only applies to projects on Carney’s list.

“He turned around and said, ‘Oh, but only if we have blessed you,’” Lee said, adding, “Bureaucracies are not created to speed things up. They’re created to slow things down.”

“So from a substantive point of view, is the Major Projects Office adding value? My view is, no, they are not.”

Carney’s list of 13 projects, including Iqaluit’s hydro project, are not guaranteed to be accepted into the Major Project Office’s fast-tracking system, Privy Council Office spokesperson Pierre Cuguen said in an email.

But the Major Projects Office can also help projects co-ordinate reviews across federal departments to reduce risk, he said.

What does it mean for Iqaluit?

Construction on Iqaluit’s $500-million hydroelectric power plant project, led by Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corp., could start in 2028 — two years sooner than initially estimated, said Heather Shilton, Nukkiksautiit’s executive director.

But Nukkiksautiit CEO and president Harry Flaherty has rejected the idea the hydro plant will be fast-tracked.  

That’s because the Major Projects Office can only help with federal permits, said Jess Puddister, manager for Nukkiksautiit Corp.

“The project must move through the [Nunavut Impact Review Board] process and receive approval there in order for construction to be possible,” she said in an email.

“Being named to the nation-building projects list does not mean that the project is fast-tracked.”

The Major Project Office’s role is to co-ordinate federal and local permitting so approvals happen in tandem.

The federal northern affairs minister has final say on NIRB recommendations under the Nunavut Agreement, but that power is limited.

The minister can reject a recommendation that a project not proceed by deeming the project has “importance in the national or regional interest,” according to the Nunavut Agreement.

The minister must then send the proposal back to the review board for reconsideration. The board can either submit another recommendation to the minister, or start the process again.

More changes ahead?

A not-so-fast track is not necessarily bad news, said Nunavut MP Lori Idlout.

She said she believes Carney’s government is “realizing” it cannot override “the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples.”

Idlout was critical of the One Canadian Economy Act, along with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and other Indigenous groups, who said it would infringe on Indigenous rights over what happens on their land.

But back at Carleton University, Ian Lee had a warning.

The federal government could go as far as forcing Nunavut to reshape its core review processes, he said.

“I could see changes being forced upon you,” Lee said, noting the federal government is Nunavut’s “principal banker and funder.”

“The power of the purse is very, very powerful,” he said.