In addition to limiting the time period for an environmental review process to 24 months, the federal government has also announced it will be cutting the number of review agencies from 40 to 3. Minister of Natural Resources, Joe Oliver has justified the cuts, saying,

“We need to tap into the tremendous appetite for resources in the world’s dynamic emerging economies — resources we have in abundance.”

Environmental groups claim these cuts are designed to not simply shorten the review process but to gut environmental protection. Read more at the CBC.