May 8 (Reuters) - The government of Canada on Friday proposed reforms to ensure federal reviews and decision-making timelines take no longer than one year, as it aims to speed up approvals and strengthen a uniform regulatory system for major projects.
o The government said it would engage with Indigenous Peoples, provinces and territories and the Canadian public over a 30-day period about the proposals.
o The key aim of the reforms is to limit the federal review process and decision-making timeline to a year, once all pertinent information about a project has been collected.
o The proposals intend to improve regulatory efficiency by tightening approval timelines, creating federal economic zones and providing a regulatory system where a single comprehensive federal decision is made on permits and approvals for major projects.
o The government also wants to modernize the national transport policy and port governance as Canada aims to diversify its trade away from the U.S.
o The proposals include plans to simplify regulatory reporting in order to reduce redundancies and inefficiencies in transportation regulations.
o The Business Council of Alberta, which represents entrepreneurs and companies in the province, welcomed the proposal, saying that reducing review timelines would meaningfully improve Canada's competitiveness relative to the U.S.
o TC Energy, a major pipeline operator in Canada, said it looked forward to providing input on the proposals.
(Reporting by Vallari Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Ananda)
