RC119 JulyAugust 2025 - Magazine - Page 10
INFRASTRUCTURE
LEADERSHIP
BIG AMBITIONS
Canada’s future depends on accelerating national priority projects
by Mark W.S. Bain, Andrew Bernstein, Peter Danner, Valerie Helbronner, and Dennis E. Mahony
URNING TO NATIONAL PRIORITY projects in times of volatility
is an age-old concept, which Canadians know well. In
1866, the U.S. backed out of the 1854 Reciprocity Treaty (an early form of free trade agreement) and reinstated tari昀昀s against the then-British colonies. This
was intended to buttress U.S. industry and advance
“manifest destiny”, a long-held U.S. ambition for territorial
expansion to the west and north. Not coincidentally, the
1867 confederation of the Dominion of Canada gave birth
to a 昀椀ercely independent new nation and an expedited
cross-country railway mega-project which has become part
of our foundational lore. It also resulted in fortifying Canadian sovereignty, and the rapid expansion of European
trade routes, among other bene昀椀cial outcomes.
In the face of the current trade war that threatens to undermine the Canadian economy and sovereignty, that history can o昀昀er some vivid lessons for an e昀昀ective response.
There is a building consensus among industry, government
and the general public that our future depends more than
ever on advancing critical projects with much greater speed.
The current environment calls on Canadian governments,
business and industry to return to promoting national
priority projects in service of the country’s ongoing stability
and prosperity. Refocusing our e昀昀orts on national priority
projects worked before, and will work again.
In this article we discuss some of the features of “national
priority” projects—and what e昀昀orts can be taken to start
building them quickly in a way that validates the country’s
sovereignty and supports both the domestic and export
economies.
T
Mark W.S. Bain
is a Partner at Torys
LLP in Toronto.
Andrew Bernstein
is a Partner at Torys
LLP in Toronto.
Peter Danner
is a Partner at Torys
LLP in Calgary.
relationship to increased engagement with other markets,
including underutilized domestic trade opportunities.
DEFENDING OR ASSERTING CANADA’S SOVEREIGNTY: projects that
enhance stability and security in service of asserting and
demonstrating Canadian sovereignty. This can include infrastructure that enhances our protection and borders such
as physical projects in the Arctic, and also national unity
projects that bring Canada and Indigenous communities
closer together.
Projects of national importance have an eye to Canada’s
long-term future and prosperity, and are worthwhile in
every political and economic context. Yet, in the face of a
turbulent relationship with our dominant trading partner,
arguably representing an existential crisis, such projects
must be accelerated to achieve these ends.
We recommend an expedited approach to perhaps a few
dozen national priority projects as an appropriate response
to our current context. We do not argue here for reform to
the thousands of other projects of lower priority. Focus will
be the key to success of this initiative.
What projects should be accelerated?
Projects in service of these three key objectives range from
military hubs in the Arctic to infrastructure corridors
that enable transport of our natural resources and critical
minerals to tidewater. National priority projects need not
be limited to “mega-projects”—for example, small modular
nuclear reactors in support of digital infrastructure projects
of national interest.
What steps do we need to take?
Valerie Helbronner
is a Partner with
Torys LLP in Toronto.
Dennis E. Mahony
is a Partner with
Torys LLP in Toronto.
We would like to thank T. Ryan
Lax, Josh Van Deurzen, and
Ian T.D. Thomson for their
contributions to this article.
10
What are the goals of national priority projects?
National priority projects have a strategic value that transcends economic return. These highest priority projects
are intended to achieve one or more of (1) self-reliance, (2)
economic resilience or (3) sovereignty signaling. Projects in
support of these three objectives include the following:
SELF-RELIANCE: projects that cross provincial boundaries and
enhance the transportation of goods, resources and people
across Canada, strengthening domestic connectivity and
reducing interprovincial trade barriers.
ECONOMIC RESILIENCE: projects that enable a greater diversity
of domestic and international trade relationships. This
includes establishing trade corridors or zones, facilitating
access to non-U.S. economies and pivoting from our historical predominant reliance on the U.S. trade and security
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1. ESTABLISH TRADE CORRIDORS OR ZONES
Trade corridors or zones would connect the country and accelerate diversi昀椀cation of international trade relationships.
Trade corridors are horizontal infrastructure routes associated with transportation of goods and resources, such as
port expansions or rail upgrades, or a national transmission
grid. For instance, the Trans-Canada Highway can be seen
as a trade corridor. Trade corridors o昀昀er multiple bene昀椀ts
including speeding up movements of resources and goods,
reducing costs and enhancing connectivity to Canada’s
three coasts. Indeed, a 2025 Statistics Canada report found
that roughly 46 per cent of businesses surveyed cited various transportation challenges or the distance between point
of origin and destination as reasons to not purchase goods
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