In yet another political defeat, the Liberal government of Canadian Globalist Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has seen their climate alarmist policies overturned by the country’s supreme court.
In a Friday (13) decision, Canada’s Supreme Court dealt a blow to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government as they ruled that a federal law on the environment is mostly unconstitutional.
The Impact Assessment Act (IAA) is designed to measure how major projects – such as coal mines and oil sands plants – impact the environment.
The Supreme Court decision is a victory for the provincial government of Alberta, Canada’s main fossil fuel-producing region.
Alberta challenged the IAA, saying it gave the federal government in Ottawa too much power to discontinue natural resource projects.
Reuters reported:
“‘This is a significant setback for the federal government’, said David Wright, a law professor at the University of Calgary. ‘The court has said the federal government can enact environmental assessment legislation but the way they went about it, for most of this law, goes too far’.”
The Supreme Court decided that the federal government had made ‘the scope of the IAA too broad’ by including or ‘designating’ projects that should fall under provincial jurisdiction.
“‘Parliament has plainly overstepped its constitutional competence in enacting this designated projects scheme’, Chief Justice Richard Wagner wrote in the 5-2 majority ruling.”
Natural resource projects in Canada fall under provincial jurisdiction, while the transport and communications projects that cross provincial boundaries – such as railways or pipelines – are federal.
The IAA aims to ‘streamline and restore trust in the environmental approval process for major projects’.
“‘We will now take this back and work quickly to improve the legislation through Parliament’, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault told a news conference. ‘Our immediate priority will be to provide guidance to our many stakeholders and Indigenous partners to ensure as much predictability as possible for projects affected’.”
The Supreme Court decision is the latest conflict between the Liberals in the federal government and Alberta’s conservative government.
Alberta’s Premier, Danielle Smith, has repeatedly battled Trudeau over his climate alarmist policies.
Industry associations were also fast to welcome the ruling.
“‘We are delighted with the decision. This is a big win for provincial jurisdiction over development of its own resources’, said Mike Martens, president of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association Alberta.”
The IAA is very controversial among conservatives in Alberta, who frequently refer to it as the ‘no more pipelines act’.
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Richard Wagner, wrote that environmental protection ‘remains one of today’s most pressing challenges’, and that Parliament has indeed the power to ‘enact a scheme of environmental assessment’ to meet this challenge.
However, the Supreme court agreed with the lower Appellate Court that stated that the law was an ‘existential threat’ when it came to Canada’s Constitution.
CBC reported:
“The federal government appealed that non-binding opinion, and the Supreme Court held hearings on the act in March. Today’s decision was keenly awaited by legal experts, who recognized its importance in providing clarity to an area of law that has long been under debate.”
Premier Danielle Smith said the decision marked a substantial win ‘for the protection of the provincial rights’ in Alberta.
“‘Today’s decision only strengthens our legal position. We work to protect Albertans, and all Canadians, from federal intrusion into our provincial jurisdiction’, Smith said.
‘I guess we can keep on battling this out in the Supreme Court to find out exactly where the line is, but I’m asking for the [federal government] to accept that there is exclusive provincial jurisdiction under the Constitution … and to work with us on those areas of shared priority’, Smith said.”
Ontario Province Premier, Doug Ford, said his province welcomed the decision.
“‘The federal impact assessment process needlessly duplicated Ontario’s rigorous and world-leading environmental assessment requirements’, Ford is quoted as saying in a statement. ‘At a time when it’s never been more important to build critical infrastructure, including highways, transit, and critical mineral projects, we now have the certainty we need to get shovels in the ground’.”
23 projects are in the federal impact assessment process under the IAA, according to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada.
Eight final decisions have already been issued by the agency, allowing those projects to move forward.
