Ottawa to intervene in B.C. Trans Mountain court case

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/federal-government-intervene-transmountain-1.4647165

Ottawa to intervene in B.C.'s Trans Mountain court case

'We are confident in Parliament’s jurisdiction,' says Jody Wilson-Raybould

Peter Zimonjic · CBC News · Posted: May 03, 2018 3:44 PM ET

3515 Comments 

Commenting is now closed for this story.

 

 
Jack Richards

Why didn't Ottawa force the east coast pipeline on to Quebec.

David Amos

@Jack Richards Methinks Russ Gurling and the boyz in TransCanada no longer cared about the Irvings' scheme after Trump said OK to Keystone XL pipeline N'esy Pas?

james Mckenna

Horgan...you're fired! No one can claim they were elected on a single platform issue. The majority of people in BC want the pipeline. Listen to your people.

David Amos

@james Mckenna Methinks you may be correct particularly after the NDP has displayed its true colours in that it follows Green Party orders N'esy Pas?

 

JOHN MCTAGGART

Canada desperate;y needs two pipelines.

One to the East. One to the West'

The one to the West is approved.

The federal government has jurisdiction over inter provincial transportation.

It is way past time for them to ensure the Trans Mountain line is built.

Act NOW!

Shipping diluted bitumen by rail is a far greater risk than by pipeline.

Failure will tell the world Canada is closed to business!

David Amos

@JOHN MCTAGGART "Shipping diluted bitumen by rail is a far greater risk than by pipeline."

YUP

Jim Smith

The entire constitutional question of B.C. is a joke anyway.

"Do we have the power to regulate shipments of diluted bitumen through B.C.?"

Except it's been happening for 50 years and only now somehow this issue is raised.

That fact alone should prevent B.C. from asserting any power in this area.

David Amos

@Jim Smith "The entire constitutional question of B.C. is a joke anyway."

I agree However

Methinks its gonna make for a very interesting circus in court that many lawyers will enjoy profiting from N'esy Pas?

 

Buford Wilson

Canada needs a strong PM again.

David Amos

@Buford Wilson Methinks we need another R. B. Bennett not Harper 2.0 N'esy Pas?

  

james Mckenna

Just build it. It has been approved. The majority of Canadians want it, and the majority of BC people want it. Rarely does any major issue in Canada get this kind of support.

David Amos

@Phillip Smirnoff Oh So True

 http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/federal-government-intervene-transmountain-1.4647165?__vfz=profile_comment%3D6339600016016#vf-8056800016087

 
Alvin Merlot

Oil is too strategic a resource to leave in the control of provincial governments in Alberta ans Saskatchewan. The Federal government should assume control of all oli and gas resources in Canada. Leaving an important resource like oil in the hands of Alberta and Saskatchewan is not in the National Interest.

Kathy Altenhofen

@Alvin Merlot does that apply to Newfoundland's oil as well? And what about hydro in Quebec? Isn't that too strategic a resource to leave in the control of a provincial government?

Alvin Merlot

@Kathy Altenhofen

Newfoundland didn't try to weaponize oil: Alberta and Saskatchewan did. Alberta and Sask have shown that a strategic resource as important to the country as oil is should not be left in their hands.

 

David Amos

@Kathy Altenhofen Last night you asked me a rather snide question

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-mueller-subpoena-seven-legal-experts-constitutional-law-1.4645828

"Snicker. How'd that work out for you?"

Well a Proud Maritimer is about to put this matter before the Supreme Court to see if they wish to hear a Charter argument

http://cas-cdc-www02.cas-satj.gc.ca/IndexingQueries/infp_RE_info_e.php?court_no=T-1557-15&select_court=T

David Amos 

@Alvin Merlot "Newfoundland didn't try to weaponize oil"

Methinks you are forgetting something that happened 6 months after I ran for a seat Parliament the first time N'esy Pas?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/canadian-flags-ordered-down-williams-1.505946

Canadian flags ordered down: Williams
CBC News · Posted: Dec 23, 2004 4:38 PM NT

Newfoundland and Labrador's premier ordered the removal of all Canadian flags from provincial government buildings Thursday.

Danny Williams made the order in retaliation for an offer from the federal government on offshore royalties he calls a "slap in the face."

Ottawa to intervene in B.C.'s Trans Mountain court case

'We are confident in Parliament’s jurisdiction,' says Jody Wilson-Raybould

Peter Zimonjic · CBC News · Posted: May 03, 2018 3:44 PM ET

Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould says her government will intervene in the constitutional reference question filed by the B.C. government under the BC Constitutional Questions Act. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)



The federal government says it will intervene in the B.C. provincial government's Trans Mountain pipeline court reference action that will decide whether the province can restrict any increase in the amount of diluted bitumen that moves across its border.

"We are confident in Parliament's jurisdiction and will intervene on the question in order to defend our clear jurisdiction over interprovincial pipelines," Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said in a statement.

B.C. Premier John Horgan announced last month that his province's highest court would be asked to determine if B.C. has the right to seek permits from companies that want to increase the amount of bitumen being shipped to the West Coast.

The federal government will now be in a position to make arguments and present evidence in the case.

• B.C. wants new rules for companies — like Kinder Morgan — bringing more oil through the province

• B.C. court reference a 'recipe for economic gridlock,' Alberta premier says

The federal move is the latest development in the ongoing standoff between the B.C. government — which wants to block the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline from the Alberta oilsands to the B.C. coast — and the Alberta and federal governments, which back the expansion.

The court case essentially is asking the B.C. Court of Appeal if the province has the jurisdiction to implement a law it has drafted that would amend the province's Environmental Protection Act with the new regulations.

The draft legislation says companies seeking to bring more diluted bitumen through B.C. would need a permit from the province.

Targeting the pipeline

The new regulations, should they be deemed legal, would apply only to increases in the flow of bitumen into B.C., not to existing shipment levels.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley has called the move another attempt by B.C. to delay or scuttle Kinder Morgan's pipeline expansion.

"If bitumen was so hazardous, why would we only be looking at the incremental bitumen in the new pipeline?" she said last month. "This isn't about the environment. This is about the new pipeline, which is well beyond [B.C.'s] authority."

After B.C. announced it was going to the province's highest court, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers described the action as little more than a stalling tactic designed to bog down the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

"The government of Canada now needs to exercise its constitutional authority and act in Canada's best interests to move the project forward without further legal or political delays from the B.C. government, or risk hurting the national economy and the livelihoods of thousands of middle-class Canadians," the organization said in a news release.