Conservatives pitch pre-approved development areas

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OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he will “unleash hundreds of billions of dollars of investment” by pre-approving areas for companies to build mines, data centres, pipelines, LNG plants and other large infrastructure in Canada.

The “shovel-ready zones” will be areas that are already permitted for development before applications are even submitted.

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“Let me be clear about this: it’s not that the permits will simply be faster, it’s that they will already be done,” said Poilievre, in a video posted to social media on Thursday morning. “Then, businesses could buy the land, move in, hire people and build, knowing they already have the permits.”

Poilievre said the plan would remove “gatekeepers,” a throwback to his early message that Canadian innovation and development is blocked by red tape at all levels of government. The Conservative leader also framed it as a way to make Canada self-sufficient in the face of a trade war with the United States.

“We will be less reliant on the Americans. In fact, we will be self-reliant, sovereign and stand on our own two feet. We will stand up to the Americans and stand up for ourselves, for a change,” said Poilievre.

Poilievre also said the lack of pipeline infrastructure in Canada allows the Americans to “rip us off” on the price of oil, noting that U.S. buyers pay US$63 while the world price is US$76.

“And because we do not have an east-west pipeline, the oil Quebec buys from Alberta must run through American pipelines, meaning they can cut us off from ourselves at any time,” said Poilievre.

National Post

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