Poilievre Announces ‘Canada Shovel Ready Zones,’ to Bring Home Jobs, Energy And Sovereignty
Poilievre will create ‘Canada Shovel Ready Zones,’ so companies can rapidly hire workers and build in areas already permitted for construction and development to unleash hundreds of billions of dollars and end the Lost Liberal Decade.
March 20, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jonquière, QC – Today Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre revealed his plan to create ‘Canada Shovel Ready Zones.’ These zones will be areas already permitted for construction, meaning the permits will not just take less time, but will already be completed when a company decides to build a mine, LNG terminal or pipeline, bringing home thousands of jobs for Canadian workers and taking back control of our economy from the Americans.
Poilievre described how his Canada First Conservative Government will get the Canada Shovel Ready Zones done:
- Identify a location that makes sense for a power station, LNG plant, pipeline, or another major project.
- Make sure it is safe for Canadians and the environment.
- Work with other levels of government to lock down zoning and permits in advance of construction.
- Offer pre-permitting before even getting an application so that permits could be published online with a checklist that businesses would have to complete in order to protect nature and people.
This means businesses could buy the land, move in, hire people and build, knowing they already have the permits.
“Think of an area that is perfect for liquifying and exporting gas,” said Poilievre. “We would publish a permit online, with normal safety and environment requirements. Then, companies can come in immediately and begin building and hiring local First Nations and other Canadians to generate paycheques. This would also allow us to ship Canadian energy off to Europe, breaking European dependence on Russian gas, while turning dollars for dictators into paycheques for our people.”
Canada should be the richest country in the world. But after a lost Liberal decade, government gatekeepers have been allowed to block projects that bring paycheques to our people. It takes more than 17 years to get the average mine approved and built in Canada. We have the second slowest permits in the OECD. In the first 5 years of this Liberal government, $176 billion of resource and energy projects were cancelled, mostly due to government obstacles and rules.
These projects would have made us more self-reliant and less dependent on the United States. But Liberal red tape and gatekeepers have forced Canadians into a position where the U.S. gets 97% of our oil exports and 100% of our natural gas exports. Worse still, the Americans rip our country off. They pay US$63 a barrel for our oil, while the world price is US$76 a barrel.
One example is the Northern Gateway, which would have brought Canadian oil from Alberta to the Pacific for sale in Asia. Justin Trudeau vetoed it—a decision Mark Carney endorsed while his company bought pipelines in the Middle East and Asia. Radical “keep-it-in-the-ground” Liberal ideology opposes Canada’s resources, while supporting dirty, foreign oil.
“A Common Sense Conservative Government will unleash $100s of billions of dollars in power plants, nuclear energy, mines, pipelines, data centres and much more,” said Poilievre. “You will see hard-working and talented Canadian workers going around, earning big paycheques. Welders, boilermakers, pipefitters, miners, and factory workers will be able to spend those paycheques at local businesses. The economy will boom and we will be less reliant on the Americans.”
Only Pierre Poilievre will create a self-reliant, sovereign Canada that stands on its own two feet. A Canada that will stand up to the Americans.
