It was Premier David Eby’s most important legislation of the year, a law to fast-track critical infrastructure projects so vital to the province’s future that the NDP government threatened an election to force it through.

And yet, after all that bluster, 2025 ended without Bill 15 being used once. In fact, the controversial Infrastructure Projects Act was never even enacted. The enabling regulations, which would give the law its teeth by allowing cabinet to designate certain projects in the provincial interest, remain stuck in consultation purgatory.

First Nations leaders, who decried the move to ram the legislation through without consultation, are now being asked by the government to sign off on its enabling regulations.

Seven months after Bill 15 passed, the province now says it has consulted with 53 of B.C.’s more than 200 First Nations, as well as two Indigenous leadership organizations. It had listed “spring 2026” as a possible date to get agreement. But even that is questionable.

“We have extended consultations with First Nations on the criteria for provincially significant projects and the Qualified Professional Framework regulations based on their requests for additional time to provide meaningful feedback,” the Ministry of Infrastructure said in a statement.

The government has proposed “possible eligibility requirements” for consideration on what it could........

© BIV