Legislators in Ottawa and Queen’s Park have passed bills aimed at accelerating major projects.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s federal Bill C-5 and Premier Doug Ford’s Ontario Bill 5 both promise to cut through red tape, but legal experts say one comes with some constitutional guardrails, while the other may go off the rails entirely.
At the heart of both bills is a rarely used legal tool: the so-called Henry VIII clause, a provision that gives cabinet ministers the power to override laws without legislative approval.