Alberta government to sue feds over updated Impact Assessment Act

The Alberta government said the Canadian government failed to meet its four-week deadline to respond to its concerns about the revised Impact Assessment Act (IAA). In response, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said the government will continue in its efforts to defend the province against Canadian government overreach. “We are once again taking Ottawa to court for their deeply flawed and unconstitutional legislation,” said Smith at a Thursday press conference. “We filed our reference case at the Alberta Court of Appeal (ACA) earlier this morning.” By now, Smith said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should know better than to think the Alberta government is bluffing and is confident it is on the right side of its legal challenge. In 2023, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) ruled the IAA was largely unconstitutional. The Canadian government promised to amend the IAA to comply with the Canadian Constitution and pushed amendments through Parliament this spring. While the amendments play clever word games, she said they continued to give the Canadian government control over projects that fall under Alberta’s exclusive jurisdiction. In October, Smith sent a letter to Trudeau that informed him the amendments made to the IAA did not address Alberta’s concerns and did not live up to the SCC’s ruling upholding provincial jurisdiction over natural resources. The letter included a list of amendments to address the Alberta government’s concerns. The premier went on to say the Canadian government will be able to save it and the Alberta government time and effort if it trusted provinces to manage their own affairs. She added it has been managing its affairs well for several years now, and the proof it has is the environmental track record of Alberta’s key industries. Instead of placating the Canadian government, she vowed the Alberta government will always defend its constitutional jurisdiction and its right to develop natural resources on its own terms. She said the IAA has made the approval process so long and complicated potential investors are going to take their money elsewhere. In this case, she said Alberta refuses to accept this managed decline in its prosperity. She said it will “refuse to accept our efforts to transform Canada from a safe harbour for investment into a black hole where capital is never seen again.” That is what is at stake and why the Alberta government is fighting it. Smith said it is prepared to fight this time, the next time, and any time the Canadian government thinks it knows what is best for Alberta. Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery confirmed the Alberta government is referring the question of constitutionality of the amended IAA to the ACA. “We will argue that Alberta’s position is that the Impact Assessment Act remains unconstitutional,” said Amery. “Alberta published this question via an order-in-council on November 20th and filed it with the Court of Appeal earlier today.” Amery said the ACA and SCC affirmed what Alberta has been saying all along — primary jurisdiction over non-renewable natural resources rests with the provinces. Even after the Canadian government made amendments in the spring, the Alberta government’s position is the amended IAA remains unconstitutional. Amery followed up by saying he did not have a total dollar value on how much this court challenge will cost. “We are working with external counsel,” he said. “We’ll be doing it in collaboration with Alberta Justice.” Like last time, he said it will work with the same legal team. He did not have a dollar figure because he did not know where this would go. Smith issued a four-week ultimatum to the Canadian government on October 4, demanding changes to the amended IAA, which the Alberta government claims remains unconstitutional..ULTIMATUM: Alberta threatens legal action against Liberals over federal Impact Assessment Act .She warned if Alberta’s concerns were not addressed within the deadline, it will launch another legal challenge.The dispute follows the SCC’s 2023 ruling, which declared the original IAA unconstitutional.

Alberta government to sue feds over updated Impact Assessment Act

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