Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday pledged $40 million to support indigenous infrastructure projects — part of a broader legislative effort to strengthen Canada’s economy.The initiative is moving forward under the recent Bill C-5, the Building Canada Act. It further includes a $10 billion indigenous loan guarantee program.Carney at a First Nations summit emphasized that the government’s approach would begin with consultation, not project selection.“Today is about the ‘how,’ not the ‘what,’” Carney told indigenous chiefs.“We’re not yet at the ‘what’ stage, or which projects,” he added, underscoring his intent is to “listen” to what indigenous groups have to say..WATCH: Smith, Ford give Carney ‘benefit of the doubt’ on pipelines — but one is not enough.Carney said the $40 million commitment is for “capacity-building.”“(It’s intended to) build out capacity so that during the process of determining what is a nation-building project, which ones do First Nations, provinces, and the people of Canada want to move forward on — that takes work, that takes capacity," he said. While specific projects have yet to be named, Carney suggested that pipelines and liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure are not off the table.“There’s lots of projects that will fall by the wayside because they don’t meet conditions, because there isn’t alignment of interest, but it’s about how we establish a process in order to achieve,” he said..WATCH: Carney dodges pipeline question as House returns for Question Period.Carney said his government intends to take “the advice that we took and the approach that we’ve taken to this central issue for our country, for First Nations — of how are we going to build prosperity in which all benefit — is first to create the conditions so we can have that conversation. So this is enabling legislation. It doesn’t say which projects, it doesn’t say how we’re going to build them.”Indigenous consultations will include further roundtables planned in Inuvik and elsewhere over the coming weeks, and engagement with Inuit and Métis leaders.“Our signature piece of legislation was the One Canadian Economy Act, Building Canada Act — within that — received bipartisan support in Parliament," said Carney. "And this is the first step. This is the first step of putting that into action.".WATCH: Carney doubles down on giving Quebec veto status on pipelines to Quebec.The roundtable is part of a wider rollout of federal infrastructure and investment policies framed under the One Canada economic strategy, which also includes a proposed National Infrastructure Agency and potential tax credits for clean energy and critical minerals.While the government has not committed to backing specific LNG developments, Carney’s remarks suggest those could qualify under the new framework — provided there is indigenous leadership and alignment with national goals.“This is the first step of a process,” Carney said.“Everyone wants better opportunities for their children. Everyone wants more resources for social services, for health, for education, for community services. And the question is about where, what we’re for, which projects help achieve those goals.”
