The Federal Court has suspended Alberta’s turn-off-the-taps legislation related to the Trans Mountain pipeline extension, granting British Columbia a temporary injunction blocking the law until a full constitutional review can take place.
The legislation was passed — but never used — by Alberta’s former NDP government as a way pressure B.C. to drop its fight against the pipeline expansion.
B.C. filed a statement of claim in Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench this spring, calling the law unconstitutional, but that court said the issue was under Federal Court’s jurisdiction.
The latter court granted B.C.’s request for the injunction Tuesday, prohibiting Alberta’s minister of energy from enacting the law until a full review is completed.
“I find that the irreparable harm that British Columbia would suffer if the injunction is not granted far outweighs any inconvenience that the injunction might impose on Alberta,” the court decision read.
The court also rejected Alberta’s motion to have B.C.’s application thrown out. The eastern province had said the West Coast government was acting prematurely, but the justice rejected that stance.
The legal battle is part of the fallout over the Trans Mountain expansion project, which has been subject to several court challenges from provincial and municipal governments as well as Indigenous communities and environmental groups.
Bill 12 gave Alberta’s energy minister the power to ask anyone who wanted to export natural gas, refined fuels or crude from the province to get a licence first. Then, Alberta would have power to impose terms and conditions over the trade — including quantity and destination.
B.C. said the act would affect interprovincial trade, which is under Ottawa’s jurisdiction.
In June, a lawyer for the Alberta government argued the legislation was not meant to hurt B.C. despite political rhetoric that suggested otherwise.
The federal government bought the existing Trans Mountain pipeline last year for $4.5 billion after its original builder, Texas-based Kinder Morgan, threatened to walk away from its expansion in part because of B.C.’s resistance.
More to come