A new report from the Business Council of Alberta warns Canada risks losing out on major investment without urgent changes to its regulatory system. The report, From Barriers to Breakthroughs, outlines a series of reforms aimed at speeding up project approvals, reducing duplication, and restoring investor confidence. The council argues Canada’s current regulatory framework has become the single biggest barrier to attracting capital, with slow timelines and unpredictable decision-making driving investment elsewhere. “Canada isn’t losing investment; we’re regulating it away. Our regulatory and project approval system has become the single biggest barrier to attracting capital,” said Adam Legge, the Business Council of Alberta’s president. “The solutions are clear. We need faster and more certain timelines, removal of duplication, and predictable decision-making. If Canada is serious about growth and getting major projects built, the time to act is now.” The report focuses on two key priorities: reforming major project approvals through changes to the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act and modernizing the broader regulatory system to better support economic growth. It comes as Canada’s investment performance continues to lag behind peer countries. Business investment per worker has fallen by nearly 11 per cent over the past decade, while rising by about 45 per cent in the United States, according to the executive summary. The report says Canadian firms now invest roughly half as much per worker as their U.S. counterparts and remain below the OECD average. The federal government has set a goal of unlocking $1 trillion in investment over the next five years, including $500 billion from the private sector, but the council says that target will not be met under the current system. “Capital is mobile, and right now investors are looking elsewhere,” said Alex Pourbaix, board chair of Cenovus Energy and incoming board chair for the Business Council of Alberta. “Companies require an investment environment that makes it simple for them to do business. Canada has everything it needs to compete. Countries are knocking on our door to get our products, but until we fix the regulatory system, we’re leaving investment, jobs, and growth on the table.” Among the key recommendations are limiting federal project approval timelines to two years or less, assigning all pipeline reviews to the Canadian Energy Regulator, and adopting a “one project, one review, one decision” approach led by provinces for projects under their jurisdiction. The report also calls for shortening pipeline review timelines to between 180 and 250 days and moving political decision-making to earlier in the approval process to reduce uncertainty. Business leaders say lengthy and overlapping regulatory processes are discouraging investment, with one survey showing 41 per cent of Canadian CEOs identify domestic regulatory burden as the most important factor influencing investment decisions. The report points to a growing number of federal regulatory requirements, which it says increased by 37 per cent between 2006 and 2021, adding costs and complexity for businesses. “Capital goes where there is clarity, reliable timelines, and a decision framework that businesses can plan around,” said Colin Gruending, executive vice-president and president of liquids pipelines at Enbridge. “In Canada, project approvals are too often measured in years when they should be measured in months. Fixing that is essential if we want to build the infrastructure needed to support economic growth.” The report also recommends broader reforms to reduce regulatory burden, including stronger cost-benefit analysis for new rules, greater oversight, and more frequent reviews of existing regulations to eliminate outdated requirements. “Our recommendations are about greater efficiency, not weaker accountability. We support Indigenous participation in projects and strong oversight to ensure environmental protection,” Legge said. “Our analysis shows that can go hand-in-hand with smart policy and regulations that encourage investment.” The Business Council of Alberta says its roadmap is based on more than a year of research and consultation involving economists, legal experts and business leaders, and is intended to provide a clear path for federal action. The report concludes Canada has the resources and capacity to compete globally, but requires a regulatory system capable of turning those advantages into sustained investment and economic growth.
