In an effort to halve the approval time for Canada’s new high-speed rail network, the Liberal government is streamlining how it expropriates land in a way that some say could compromise property rights and lead to costly mistakes.

The Budget 2025 Implementation Act (BIA) , which enacts measures proposed in the budget, also contains changes to the Expropriation Act and other laws that make it quicker and easier for the federal government to acquire land for the new railway.

“They've taken away safeguards in the interest of time, but I wouldn't say those are just protections for the homeowner” Shane Rayman, a Toronto lawyer who specializes in expropriation law, told CBC News. “Those safeguards protect both sides against mistakes that are sometimes made in a very complicated process."

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