What Bill C-39 Would Change — and Why It Cleared Its First Vote
MPs voted Oct. 8 on Bill C-39, the Building Canada Strong Act CBC, the federal government's key economic bill. The bill moved to a special committee with Conservative support iPolitics.
Ahead of the vote, NDP, labour and Indigenous leaders held a joint press event to oppose the bill, Prime Minister Mark Carney's key economic measure The Globe and Mail. Davies appeared alongside NDP Leader Avi Lewis at the press conference with labour and First Nations leaders on Bill C-39 The Canadian Press. Lewis is the leader of Canada's New Democratic Party.
The main disagreement is over project review — the federal process for assessing major projects such as mines or pipelines before they are approved. Carney is pushing Bill C-39, which is described as rewriting that process. Asked about criticism of the bill, Carney said he has a "very clear mandate". Lewis replied that "Canadians did not vote for a wholesale rewriting of Canada's project review process."
Bill C-39 also deals with federal labour law. It would reinforce the duty of employers to "negotiate in good faith" CBC. The vote to send the bill to committee keeps the government's schedule on track and shifts detailed review out of the full House of Commons.
Outside C-39, NDP MPs used other House tools to raise separate issues. NDP MP Heather McPherson, Edmonton Strathcona, planned to request an emergency debate — a special discussion outside the normal schedule — on electoral integrity and foreign interference in Alberta's upcoming referendum. That request was denied. NDP MP Leah Gazan, Winnipeg Centre, requested an emergency debate on white nationalism and anti-Indigenous racism after the September 27 white nationalist demonstration on the Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc reserve. Separately, NDP Foreign Affairs Critic Heather McPherson issued a statement on the anniversary of the October 7 attacks and the beginning of the genocide in Gaza.
The broader context here is how opposition is forming around the committee stage, not just the floor vote. The NDP is providing opposition in Parliament, organized labour is pressing on bargaining language, and First Nations leaders are raising jurisdictional and rights questions about project approvals. Conservative support for sending the bill to committee does not mean agreement on the final wording. It sets the next venue. A special committee narrows who takes part, sets the witness list and decides which amendments get close attention. The emergency debate requests, even when denied, put two other issues on the record — Alberta referendum integrity and anti-Indigenous racism — that compete for House time while C-39 leads the agenda.
