What will the federal government's Major Projects Office do — and will it succeed?

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced this week a second round of projects he's recommending get fast-tracked by his government's Major Projects Office (MPO) as part of his promise to reduce Canada’s economic reliance on the United States.

Thursday’s announcement saw multibillion-dollar energy and natural resources proposals brought to the top of the pile, but there are still questions about what a referral to the MPO actually means.

Part of the confusion lies in the government’s choice of language. So far, Carney has referred projects to the MPO that he’s deemed of “national importance” or “national significance."

None of the projects — at least not yet — have been slapped with the “national interest” label, a new (and controversial) designation that would essentially allow the federal cabinet to sidestep certain laws to ram a project forward in the name of spurring economic growth on home soil.

Many of the projects heading to the MPO for approval are also well into development, raising the question: So what’s the point, and what happens now? 

With the agency still in its infancy, there’s still a big question mark hanging over whether the Major Project Office process — one of Carney's signature policy proposals — will work.

Even Carney himself cautioned that referring a project to the MPO “does not mean the project is approved."

“It means that all the efforts are being put in place from the federal government in order to create the conditions, so it could move forward,” he said Thursday. “But those decisions are taken by many parties, including very much First Nations.”

With U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs causing trading uncertainty, the MPO has been pitched as a clearing house to get projects built faster in Canada.

According to the Major Project Office, once it receives a proposal, it works with proponents, provinces and territories, and Indigenous people to find the “right way forward."

That could include focusing on streamlining permitting processes, addressing regulatory challenges, structuring financing and trying to reduce risks for projects.

Asked for clarity on Thursday, Dawn Farrell, the MPO's president and CEO, said her office will shepherd the projects across the finish line “on time and on budget."

“There's a lot of work as you get to the end of the line and you need to pull things over,” she said.

Farrell pointed to the recently announced Crawford nickel project in Timmins, Ont., as an example. Canada Nickel Company proposes to build a mine capable of producing 240,000 tonnes of ore per day.