Unceded Algonquin Territory — Ottawa, ON | September 17, 2026

Next week, Parliament will resume after a summer that has seen wildfires, a tariff war with the United States, and environmental and economic unease across Canada. The choices that Canadian parliamentarians make in their first few days back will be a significant test of character for them and for the country they will help to create.

At the start of the summer, the federal government published its “Getting Major Projects Built in Canada” paper, with proposals to enable Ministers “to adjust [ie, lower] environmental conditions for projects of national interest”, to grant favoured corporations the ability to bypass the environmental reviews that apply to everyone else, and to set aside the lawful protection of species threatened with extinction.

These proposals, dubbed the “Extinction Papers”, shocked the conscience of Canadians everywhere, and mobilized international opposition in some of Canada’s most important trading partners in Europe and Asia.

In response, Nature Canada convened 20 ENGOs, whose conversations are summarized in our report about creating a better path forward for Canada in “A Canada Worth Building Puts Nature up Front”.

Meanwhile, over 26,000 Canadians – including not only expert knowledge-holders but also business owners, farmers, school-teachers, and more – wrote to, telephoned, and met with their MPs, to call on the government to do the right thing, and draw back from the precipice.

In its subsequent “What We Heard” report, the government faced up to the scale of the democratic opposition to its initial proposals by acknowledging that “Canadians have made it clear that they want a regulatory system that is more efficient and predictable, without compromising environmental protections or Indigenous rights.”

“We are relieved that the Major Projects Office has signalled a willingness to reconsider its plans to neutralise the laws that protect species at risk” says Akaash Maharaj, Policy Director at Nature Canada. “But we still do not know what they are actually planning this autumn. Extinction is neither a necessary nor an acceptable cost for development. It is outlandish that one week, the federal government announced billions of dollars in public funds to protect nature, and the next week, it announced plans to let private corporations lay waste to nature. That policy incoherence undermines everything the government has said it is trying to accomplish.”

There remains much peril in the approach the government intends to take to Parliament in the coming weeks. Nature Canada calls on MPs to heed the voice of their constituents, and speak up for the reality that the only way to build an economy that delivers prosperity today and tomorrow, is to build it on a foundation of environmental responsibility.

A charity since 1939, Nature Canada has been the voice for nature. Our mission is to cultivate and strengthen the connections and conditions needed for species and habitats to flourish. Our vision is a Canada where nature is restored, thriving, and an integral part of everyday life, rooted in all the decisions that shape our shared future.

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Media Contact:
Scott Mullenix, Director of Communications
media@naturecanada.ca | Call / Text: 613-366-4776