By Nia Williams and Ismail Shakil
OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada’s Supreme Court on Friday ruled a federal law assessing how major infrastructure projects like coal mines and oil sands plants impact the environment is largely unconstitutional, in a blow to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government.
The decision is a victory for Alberta, Canada’s main fossil fuel-producing province, which opposed the Impact Assessment Act (IAA), formerly known as Bill C-69, on the grounds it gave the federal government too much power to kill natural resource projects.
The Supreme Court said the federal government had over-reached its authority by making the scope of its environmental assessment process too broad and including, or “designating,” major projects that typically fall under provincial jurisdiction.
“In my view, Parliament has plainly overstepped its constitutional competence in enacting this designated projects scheme,” Chief Justice Richard Wagner wrote in the 5-2 majority ruling.
In Canada natural resources projects like oil sands plants and coal are assessed by provinces, while transport and communications projects that cross provincial boundaries, like railways or pipelines, are federal.
“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.”
Although the court is technically only issuing an opinion on the IAA, governments tend to treat that opinion as binding and Ottawa will now have to rewrite parts of the act, Wright said.
The IAA was drafted by Trudeau’s Liberal government in 2019 in a bid to streamline and restore trust in the environmental approval process for major projects.
The court case is the latest flashpoint between the federal Liberals and Alberta’s conservative provincial government, whose Premier Danielle Smith has clashed repeatedly with Trudeau over climate policies. Industry associations also welcomed 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.
Major proposed projects in Alberta that fall under the IAA include Suncor Energy’s plan to expand its oil sands Base Mine, and privately held Coalspur Mine Ltd’s Vista coal mine expansion.
Last year the federal government warned Suncor the environmental impact from expanding Base Mine would be “unacceptable” under the IAA because expected carbon emissions were too high.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil and Nia Williams; Editing by David Ljunggren, Deborah Kyvrikosaios and Richard Chang)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibilty for its content.