Alberta’s highest court says Ottawa’s environmental assessment law is unconstitutional, arguing it undermines Canada’s separation of powers and could put provinces in an “economic chokehold” by regulating their natural resources.
Four of the five judges on the Alberta Court of Appeals declared unconstitutional the Impact Assessment Act, which Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has derided as a “no more pipes law”. One of the justices concluded that the evaluation regime is a valid exercise of federal authority.
The ruling, which is part of a constitutional landmark case, is non-binding and has no immediate effect in law, but could be appealed to Canada’s Supreme Court.
The law, formerly known as Bill C-69, is one of several federal policies that Kenney has criticized as an attack on his province and its oil sector, promising a legal challenge on the 2019 election campaign. He also launched a landmark case. similar constitutional challenge to the federal carbon tax, along with similar cases in Saskatchewan and Ontario, but the Supreme Court of Canada ultimately ruled that the carbon pricing system was valid.
The 200-page opinion comes nearly three years after the law received royal approval in June 2019. It allows the federal government to consider the impacts of new resource projects on issues such as climate change, social impacts and the gender parity.
In its legal arguments, the Alberta government described the law as a “Trojan Horse” that attempts to override provincial powers through the back door, thereby eroding control over oil and gas development. Ontario and Saskatchewan also joined the case in support of Alberta.
“The federal government’s invocation of environmental and climate change concerns shared by all provincial governments and Canadians is not a basis on which to tear apart the constitutional division of powers,” the majority decision released Tuesday said.
“This legislative scheme allows the federal government to essentially render the natural resources of individual provinces worthless by halting their development. If confirmed, the (law) would permanently alter the division of powers and forever place provincial governments in an economic stranglehold controlled by the federal government.”
Alberta Judge Sheila Greckol was the only judge to side with the federal government on the Impact Assessment Act, saying it helps regulate projects within federal jurisdiction caused by physical activities or designated projects throughout the country.
“Now is not the time to abandon these tools or, worse still, give credence to the kind of ‘Trojan horse’ metaphor proposed by Alberta and Saskatchewan which, by comparing Canada to an invading foreign army deceptively breaching protective walls , only fuels suspicion and pits one level of government against another,” Judge Greckol wrote.
During the carbon tax cases, the Alberta Court of Appeals was the only one of three provincial-level courts to rule that the carbon pricing system was unconstitutional. In a 6-3 ruling in March last year, Canada’s Supreme Court ruled that Ottawa has the authority to impose a floor price on greenhouse gas emissions across the country.
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Reference-www.theglobeandmail.com