What are the implications of the Canadian election for land and water protectors?
Video still: Prime Minister Mark Carney on election night.
As of today, the morning after the April 28 federal election in Canada, it appears that there will be a Liberal minority government.
CBC chart highlights seat count and popular vote.
While any foreign policy was dominated by US-Canada relations (and not, for instance, the human rights implications of Canadian mining companies in Latin America), two key issues have implications for land defenders and water protectors.
Energy corridor
Both Liberal leader Mark Carney (who is the prime minister) and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre (who lost his seat last night) promised energy corridors.
Speaking from Ottawa on election night, Carney said: “We are going to build — build, baby, build.” He added: “It’s time to build Canada into an energy superpower in both clean and conventional energy.” Poilievre had promised he would “fast-track approvals for transmission lines, railways, pipelines, and other critical infrastructure across Canada in a pre-approved transport corridor entirely within Canada.”
This has implications for Indigenous territories intersected by this corridor.
Ring of Fire mining
Both the Liberals and Conservatives had also promised accelerated approvals of critical mineral mining projects in an area of northern Ontario called the Ring of Fire.
The Narwhal has commented: “While Carney repeatedly emphasized the urgency and importance of natural resource and energy projects on the campaign trail, he also said he would not force projects through against the will of Indigenous nations. How he will fast-track projects while fulfilling the constitutional duty to consult remains to be seen.”
Palestine
The Dublin, Ireland-based organization Front Line Defenders has previously commented: “Those [human rights defenders] defending the right to health and the right to life as doctors, nurses, or ambulance workers, those exposing and documenting war crimes as journalists, and those providing humanitarian support as volunteers or employees of aid agencies were all specifically targeted by Israeli bombs or guns.”
In their election report card, Canadian for Peace and Justice in the Middle East (CJPME) highlighted: “Carney initially claimed that Canada has an ‘arms embargo’ on Israel but then walked it back and said that Canada continues to export defensive arms for the Iron Dome. The Liberal party has [also] continued to allow the export of F-35 and Apache Helicopter parts and components to the US, which are then supplied to Israel. …The Conservative Party does not support any restriction on arms exports to Israel, and Poilievre says he will ‘remove any ban on the sale of military equipment to Israel.’”
Military spending
CBC has also reported: “Liberal Leader Mark Carney said he’d bring defence spending up to two per cent of Canada’s GDP — in line with the NATO benchmark — by 2030. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre promised to ‘work toward’ that target, as did the NDP.” A two-percent expenditure is about $64 billion a year, up billions from last year’s 1.37 per cent expenditure of $41 billion.
International development
And TVO has noted: “Poilievre [would] cut international assistance, which is now about $16 billion a year. He has made that his top international priority. He talks about cutting wasteful foreign aid ‘to dictators, terrorists, and multinational bureaucracies,’ though he doesn’t say which ones. Or by how much.”
CBC has also reported: “Under Mark Carney’s leadership, global investment firm Brookfield was accused of breaching Indigenous rights or harming the environment in at least four countries, CBC Indigenous has found.”
That article highlights: “In northern Colombia, the Sogamoso Dam, owned by Brookfield’s Colombian business Isagen, caused significant damage to ecosystems and local communities, according to a 2023 collaborative report by some 50 civil society groups. Meanwhile, the Wayuu people are resisting an Isagen wind farm in La Guajira, Colombia’s northernmost peninsula. Nacion Wayuu, a local NGO, accuses Isagen of invading their ancestral territories and advancing the project without consent.”
Photo: Opposition to the Brookfield-owned Isagen “invad[ing] Wayuu indigenous territories and desecrat[ing] sacred sites to install wind power projects without consultation.”
Another election in the coming months?
The life expectancy of a minority government in Canada is about 20 months. During CBC TV’s election coverage last night, Toronto Star national columnist Althia Raj suggested Canada could see another election “later this year” or in 2026.
Further reading: What implications could Canada-US trade and security talks have on the safety of human rights defenders? (PBI-Canada, April 15, 2025)
0 Comments