September 9, 2025

As noted in previous updates, the Province passed Bill 15, the Infrastructure Projects Act in May. Projects that are designated under the Act can benefit from several new tools to “Make the permitting approval process quicker,” including: 

• “Designated projects go to the front of the line for permit reviews;” 
• The legislation will allow Qualified Professionals (QPs) in some circumstances “… to certify that the standards required to issue a permit have been met,” so “… a QP could provide a certification instead of waiting for a provincial decision;” 
• An expedited Environmental Assessment Model;  
• “Once a project receives an Environmental Assessment Certificate, some low-risk provincial permits can be issued automatically;” 
• “Where a local government process is creating a lengthy or unnecessary delay on a project, the Province will be able to initiate a three-step process to work with a local government to resolve the issue:  

1. Consultation with the local government;  
2. Seek written agreement with the local government, which could include creating a mutually agreed upon alternate authorization; and   
3. If no resolution is reached, the Minister of Infrastructure can intervene to develop measures to address delays for the designated project.”  

The Ministry is now seeking feedback through a surveys on the policy framework for the legislation, specifically: 

• The designation of Provincially Significant Projects (which could include housing); and 
• A QP Reliance Model. 

Provincially Significant Projects 

In terms of the designating projects under the legislation, there are two categories: 

1. Provincial Capital projects are those that are built by the Broader Public Sector, and might include student housing; and  
2. Provincially Significant projects that can be led by crown corporations, municipalities, First Nations and private companies. It is proposed that this category of projects include those that “… increase affordable housing supply for people in B.C. to create healthy and vibrant communities.” 

Provincially Significant projects “… must have support from significantly and directly impacted First Nations decision-makers …,” and meet several core requirements, including: 

• Financing and a “Path to Success;” 
• Either having a capital cost of over $100 million or providing “… significant public benefits, such as publicly owned community amenities;” and  
• Proponents would have to demonstrate “… why a project is not moving forward and which tools in the Act can be used to address the reasons why.” 

In addition to the above, Provincially Significant projects would need to provide one or more other benefits. A benefit that is relevant to housing is included in the criteria - advancing “… one or more key elements of complete communities (PDF 7.3MB):  

• diversity of housing types; 
• proximity of housing and employment to daily needs; 
• transportation options; or  
• efficient use of infrastructure.” 

The Ministry has provided a questionnaire regarding Provincially Significant projects and they are asking for responses by September 30th.  

Qualified Professional Reliance Model 

Regarding the QP Reliance Model, the Province is proposing that it only be utilized when a Provincial permit “… has clear, objective standards,” and “… does not require significant interpretation or the exercise of judgement and/or discretion.” 

The QPs under the proposed system would need to belong “… to a regulatory body under the Professional Governance Act,” (or something similar), or “Possesses qualifications that are considered traditional knowledge (e.g. First Nations traditional knowledge holders).” The Ministry lists other potential requirements for QPs: 

• “Being a member in good standing with their regulatory body (under the Professional Governance Act); 
• Having the right professional qualification; 
• A minimum number of years of experience in their field of expertise; 
• Certifications/degree requirements and being up to date on all professional training; 
• Demonstrating they meet competency requirements; 
• Matching the competency requirements with the QP task or function; 
• Recognition of First Nations traditional knowledge and expertise; and   
• Declaring conflicts of interest and following their regulatory body code of conduct.” 

The Province will be creating a ‘Permit Library’ as well as “… a registry of pre-qualified QPs.” It will also “… work with regulatory bodies to develop appropriate compliance and enforcement procedures,” including auditing, mandating certification assurance statements and “Removing QPs from the registry if they don’t comply.” 

The Ministry has released a questionnaire regarding the Qualified Professional model that will be available online until October 31st.  

This Fall, the Ministry will be consulting on the expedited Environmental Assessment Model noted above.  

Please see additional information on the Infrastructure Projects Act: 

• The BC Government public engagement webpage on Bill 15;  
• The engagement process webpage; 
• Bill 15, the Infrastructure Projects Act;  
• The Provincial News Release on Bill 15; and  
• The Technical Briefing Presentation on Bill 15. 

May 6, 2025

On May 1, 2025, the Government introduced Bill 15, the Infrastructure Projects Act to accelerate permitting/approvals of infrastructure and other priority projects. The Bill also “… puts into statute the powers, duties and responsibilities of the Ministry of Infrastructure,” which includes: 

• “Policy development;
• Project planning and prioritization;
• Land acquisition; and 
• Project delivery powers.” 

The Legislation also includes several “Acceleration tools” to speed up critical projects, including: 

• Prioritized provincial permitting in which a “…  project could be brought to the front 

of the line, and permit applications prioritized for review.” 

• Establishing a Qualified Professional (QP) reliance framework that would allow QPs to “… be able to certify compliance within government standards on some permits …;”
• Expedited Environmental Assessments and “… allowing an Environmental Assessment 

Certificate to trigger low-risk provincial permits to be automatically issued;” 

• Allowing municipalities to “… request that the province waive or modify provincial planning requirements for alignment with Official Community Plans and Regional Growth Strategies for designated projects;” and 
• “Where a local government process is creating a lengthy or unnecessary delay on a project, the Province will be able to initiate a three-step process to work with a local government to resolve the issue:

1. Consultation with the local government;
2. Seek written agreement with the local government, which could include creating a mutually agreed upon alternate authorization; and 
3. If no resolution is reached, the Minister of Infrastructure can intervene to develop measures to address delays for the designated project.” 

The acceleration tools would apply to two types of projects: 

• Category 1 projects, which include all Ministry of Infrastructure projects and may include those in which other ministries are the lead;
• Category 2 projects, would be those that are “…  delivered by other partners, such as crown agencies, local governments, First Nations and private proponents.”  

The Category 2 projects would need to be designated as “provincially significant” by an Order in Council “On a ‘project-by-project’ and ‘tool-by-tool’ basis…”. The criteria for what would be “provincially significant” will be released in the coming weeks. However, in the Government’s news release, they state “… whether a project significantly contributes to … housing,” is factor that is under consideration. Category 2 projects would also “… be required to uphold government's commitment to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.”  

For more information, please see the technical briefing presentation on Bill 15.  

On a related note, on April 30th, the Government also announced that it is streamlining the permitting of renewable energy projects through Bill 14, the Renewable Energy Projects (Streamlined Permitting) Act.