Energy and regulatory lawyers in Canada are applauding the deputy prime minister’s recent comments indicating the federal government is ready to fast-track energy and mining projects to address longstanding hurdles in the regulatory process that hamper investment and economic development.

Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland made the remarks in Washington, D.C., in October, in a speech that set out what has been widely dubbed “the Freeland Doctrine”: that in a post-Ukraine-invasion world, democracies need to stop supporting hostile nations and focus on trade and investment with like-minded allies (also known as “friendshoring”).