Carney would OK projects in two years to Poilievre’s one

Liberal leader Mark Carney is pledging to expand Canada’s mineral exploration tax credit and approve resource projects within two years through a dedicated office.

Carney, who faces main challenger Pierre Poilievre of the Conservatives in an April 28 election, on Wednesday gave more details of a process to OK projects using provincial and Indigenous governments without a separate federal review, which he first mentioned last month.

“The major federal projects office will act as a one-stop-shop that will ensure that builders of major projects will not have to work with several different departments in order to secure the permits they need to move forward,” Carney said during a campaign stop in Calgary. “They will only have to work with this new office, which will coordinate the activities of all the different departments in order to accelerate the process and reduce the paper burden, making one project, one review a reality.”

On Monday, Poilievre promised much the same concept, saying he would open a Rapid Resource Project Office with an even shorter time limit – one year – to get “shovels in the ground” on each investment. Opinion polls show the Conservatives trailing the Liberals by nearly 7 percentage points.

Markets surge

The two leading candidates for prime minister are embracing resource development as they focus on U.S. President Donald Trump as a common foe. Trump has imposed 25% tariffs on Canadian aluminum, steel and some autos while destabilizing global trade. His latest worldwide reciprocal tariffs took effect overnight, but then on Wednesday afternoon he announced a 90-day pause at 10% only, except for China which he increased to 125%. The Asian giant had responded with an 84% levy on American goods. Stock markets surged after nearly a week of declines.

The White House eventually clarified that the 10% baseline wouldn’t apply to Canada and Mexico, so there’s no new change to their tariff situations. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had initially said Wednesday the 10% did apply to America’s neighbours. The confusion has been typical during the past month in comments by Trump, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2,962.86 points or 7.9% to close at 40,608.45 on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 Index climbed 474.13 points or 9.5% to end the trading day at 5,456.90. The S&P/TSX Composite Index on the Toronto exchange rose 1,220.13 points or 5.4% to close at 23,727.03. Gold reached an intraday high of $3,090.40 per oz. before settling at $3,087.20 per ounce.

Tax incentives

Carney, a former central bank governor in Britain and Canada, also said Wednesday he would widen the mineral exploration tax credit as part of a series of tax measures to boost the mining and critical minerals industry. He repeated a move initially mentioned last month to create a first-and-last-mile fund aimed to help connect critical mineral extraction projects to road and rail systems.

He also pledged to get provincial and Indigenous support to establish a corridor across parts of Canada in which to locate oil and gas pipelines, transportation and communication links.

“We will pass the investment tax credit for clean technology manufacturing in order to include a larger number of projects and critical minerals by expanding the scope of the mineral exploration tax credit to include materials that are necessary for technologies connected to defence, semiconductors, energy and green technologies,” Carney said in French.

“At the same time, we are investing in order to develop critical minerals through recycling mine tailings and used vehicle batteries.”