An Alberta senator is calling on Ottawa to trump last week’s court ruling against the Trans Mountain pipeline with a series of legislative manoeuvres.
As Justin Trudeau prepares to meet with Premier Rachel Notley in Edmonton Wednesday to chart the future of the stalled pipeline expansion project, Independent Sen. Doug Black of Alberta is promoting his own strategy to expedite construction.
Black is calling on the prime minister to recall Parliament and pass his private member’s bill, which already has Senate approval.
It would need additional language to say that Trans Mountain is in the national interest, but the bill could help the government get around the Federal Court of Appeal decision that effectively killed the pipeline, Black said.
Black detailed his “roadmap” to construction in an open letter to Trudeau last week.
“Our premier has called for bold action on getting Trans Mountain going, and I think my letter provides exactly that,” Black said in an interview Wednesday with CBC Radio’s Edmonton AM.
“I’m hoping the premier is going to say, ‘Prime minister, take up Senator Black’s letter and let’s get to work.’ “
In Edmonton on Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he will not use “tricks” to ram through the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)
The Federal Court of Appeal last Friday reversed a cabinet decision to allow construction on the Trans Mountain expansion, ruling there was not enough consultation with Indigenous people and that the National Energy Board didn’t properly consider the impact of an increase in oil tanker traffic.
Minutes after the court ruling was released, Kinder Morgan shareholders approved the sale of the existing pipeline and other assets to the federal government for $4.5 billion. The purchase closed on Friday, making the federal government wholly responsible for what happens next.
In Edmonton on Wednesday, Trudeau rejected the suggestion that the federal government use legislation or a court appeal to get construction started quickly.
In an interview on radio station CHED, Trudeau said using what he calls “tricks” to ram the project through might be satisfying in the short term, but would create further legal fights down the road.
Trudeau said the court ruled more consultation and study is needed and that’s what his government is going to do.
“Using a legislative trick might be satisfying in the short term, but it would set up fights and uncertainty for investors over
the coming years on any other project, because you can’t have a government keep invoking those sorts of things on every given project,” he told the radio station.
“People want to know that we are doing things the right way for the long term — that jobs that get started will continue and won’t get stopped by the courts. That’s the change we are focused on making.”
Notley has demanded either an appeal of the ruling or a legislative fix. Trudeau downplayed the idea of an appeal.
“We are, right now, trying to figure out how to get work restarted on it but … the court was very clear: You need to do
more on the environment,” he said. “You need to do more on consultations, if anything is going to happen, so that’s what we are going to do.”
’Enough time, enough talking’
Black said if Ottawa is serious about the pipeline, it must immediately adopt his private member’s bill, Bill S-245 the Trans Mountain Project Act.
Then, by either order-in-council or amendment to the bill, Ottawa should give the National Energy Board a four-month window to review the impacts of coastal tanker traffic and complete consultations with previously excluded Indigenous communities, Black said.
Amendments to the bill could then ensure that temporary operating permits are issued to Trans Mountain.
“I’m told that work has principally been done, so I don’t don’t think it’s a big deal that the NEB needs to go back, dust it off, look at it and make whatever recommendations they need to make,” Black said.
Trudeau could resolve the conflict and put shovels back in the ground in a matter of months, Black said.
“The prime minister will take into account what he hears and then frankly the permits need to be reissued,” Black said.
“We’ve spent enough time, enough talking, enough court cases. It’s just time to build that pipeline.”
Black would also like to see Ottawa appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. Confusion around the legal duty to consult is squarely to blame for putting the Trans Mountain pipeline in limbo, he said.
Without legal clarity, major national resource projects will face more rejection, he said.
“We do not understand what the duty to consult is, and one court goes one way and another court goes another way.
“What are the rules? What does proper consultation look like? It does not exist in Canada, so either the Supreme Court of Canada needs to define that or Parliament needs to define that.”