Good morning! Wendy Cox here.
The battle between the Alberta and British Columbia governments over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion was always reminiscent of two unhappy family members throwing furniture around the house that is the Canadian federation.
Both governments brought their law-making powers to the fight with legislation that would inevitably – if not deliberately – impact the other. Ultimately, it would be up to the courts to act as referee.
On Thursday, the Federal Court of Canada concluded Alberta’s heaviest salvo – it’s so-called turn-off-the-taps legislation – was capable of causing irreparable, economic harm and was enacted with the intention of doing so. As a result, the judge granted British Columbia’s request for an injunction, preventing Alberta from ever using Bill 12 until a court has ruled on whether it is constitutional or not.
“The evidence clearly shows that British Columbia depends on Alberta for a very large portion of its gasoline and diesel. It is obvious that an embargo on exports to British Columbia will cause a considerable increase in the price of gasoline and diesel in that province. Depending on the duration of the embargo, it may also lead to fuel shortages which may, in turn, endanger public safety in various ways,” Justice Sébastien Grammond wrote.
Bill 12 was crafted by then-Alberta premier Rachel Notley when her Alberta New Democratic Party was in power.
It was part of Alberta’s response to B.C. Premier John Horgan’s assertion on his campaign trail that he would use every tool in the toolbox to block the Trans Mountain expansion. Once in government, British Columbia referred a proposal to enact legislation enabling it to limit the flow of oil to the west on the grounds that it has the right and obligation to look after its own environment.
In May, the B.C. Court of Appeal concluded that legislation would be unconstitutional because it infringes on federal jurisdiction. B.C. is appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada.
But while B.C. lost in that case, it has come out ahead in shutting down Bill 12.
And Ms. Notley suggested Tuesday that Alberta Premier Jason Kenney had overplayed his hand by enacting it in the first place. Ms. Notley acknowledged that the NDP chose not to enact the bill to avoid a constitutional challenge. Instead, the mere threat of it was meant to put pressure on British Columbia, she said.
Tuesday’s court decision renders that tool useless.
“We told the Premier not to proclaim this legislation because it would be like blowing up the missile while it’s still on the launchpad,” she said in a news release.
So now it will be up to Mr. Kenney to decide whether to go to court to defend Bill 12. British Columbia’s court reference is ongoing.
And there is zero indication of when the relationship between Alberta and British Columbia will become warmly familial again.
This is the weekly Western Canada newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox and Alberta Bureau Chief James Keller. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here. This is a new project and we’ll be experimenting as we go, so let us know what you think.
Around the West:
GUNS: Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart has joined counterparts in other Canadian cities in calling for tighter controls on handguns, saying he supports giving municipalities the power to impose a ban on the weapons. A Globe and Mail investigation has revealed handguns are by far the most-used weapons in firearm-related homicides, but that data are limited on the sources of guns used in crimes. Mr. Stewart said he supports Toronto Mayor John Tory’s call for more data on numbers of guns and types of guns in cities, but politicians shouldn’t wait for data collection before creating the possibility of a ban.
EQUALIZATION: Mr. Kenney says whoever wins the federal election must open up the equalization formula to ensure a fair deal for his province or he will follow through with his threat to hold a provincial referendum on the issue. The equalization program, in which Ottawa sends about $20-billion annually in federal income tax money to poorer provinces, has become a flashpoint in Alberta in recent years as the province’s economy has struggled. Mr. Kenney’s provincial opponents have dismissed the proposed vote as expensive political theatre that could pit Canada’s regions against each other. Indeed, Mr. Kenney has repeatedly singled out Quebec for receiving the lion’s share of the federal transfer program.
HUAWEI: Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou has been in court this week as her lawyers try to convince a judge to order Canadian authorities to hand over more documents so they can pursue an argument that Ms. Meng should not face extradition to the United States because her rights in Canada were so grievously violated. But lawyers for Canada’s Attorney-General have said the request is a “fishing expedition” and that Ms. Meng’s legal team has already received extensive disclosure, beyond the bounds of what was required. The allegations of abuse of process do not pass the legal test of requiring an “air of reality,” they argue.
INDIGENOUS RESOURCES: Seven Indigenous communities have acquired a 40-per-cent stake in a major Alberta power transmission line in the latest energy infrastructure project that will generate returns for First Nations and Métis groups. Canadian Utilities Ltd. said the deals follow its sale in June of the Alberta PowerLine, a 500-kilovolt transmission line that extends to Fort McMurray, Alta., from just west of Edmonton. The communities that have invested are Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Bigstone Cree Nation, Gunn Métis Local 55, Mikisew Cree First Nation, Paul First Nation, Sawridge First Nation and Sucker Creek First Nation.
RACIST ATTACK: A manager of a gas station in Saskatoon says he’s scared to go to work after a stranger screamed at him while he was filling a customer’s vehicle, telling him he didn’t have “any right to be in Canada.” Hedayet Ullah told CKOM radio the man approached him from the sidewalk on Sunday, and when he tried to reason with the stranger, he says the man punched him in the chest. Ullah says other customers intervened and the attacker turned his attention towards them as Ullah retreated inside the store,
HOMELESS ENCAMPMENT: The head of Vancouver’s parks board – which has independent jurisdiction to manage the city’s parks – says he will not hand over authority for a Downtown Eastside park where a growing tent city has raised concerns about gang violence. Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart says an injunction is needed to order the campers out of the park, but Stuart McKinnon, the head of the board, says he won’t apply for one because Mr. Stewart hasn’t presented the parks board with a credible plan on how the city will handle homelessness. The impasse has alarmed city councillors of several stripes who say they have been bombarded with calls from residents alarmed at the deteriorating situation. Members of the Non-Partisan Association and the Green Party are working together in an unprecedented effort to get the parks board to solve the impasse.
MONEY LAUNDERING: The B.C. government’s tough new rules about cash in casinos has resulted in a dramatic drop in the number of people arriving with amounts over $10,000, but that appears to have led to an increase in the number arriving with amounts just under that limit. Sam MacLeod, general manager for the gaming policy and enforcement branch of the Attorney-General’s office, said authorities are now worrying that money launderers are simply finding new ways around the stricter rules introduced in January, 2018.
Meanwhile, British Columbia’s public inquiry into money laundering has approved the applications of 16 of 20 government organizations, gaming groups and individuals to participate. Among those granted standing are the Law Society of B.C., the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and Robert Kroeker, a gaming expert who held top positions at the lottery corporation, the Great Canadian Gaming Corp. and the province’s civil forfeiture office.
CLIMATE STRIKERS: Vancouver school trustees have passed a motion that would allow students with parental permission to take part in climate strike activities on Friday and to make up any missed work without penalty. The motion was passed unanimously at last night’s school board meeting and is similar to the decision taken last week in the Surrey school district.
SPRINGBANK DAM: The Alberta Premier says it’s possible a proposed reservoir to protect Calgary from floods will have to go back to the drawing board if federal regulators say no or court delays persist. Opponents of the dry reservoir at Springbank, just west of Calgary, presented 842 signatures against the project during a meeting Monday with United Conservative MLA for Banff-Kananaskis, Miranda Rosin. The reservoir was identified as a priority after severe flooding that washed through Calgary and its surrounding area in 2013.
Opinion:
André Picard on the acquittal of two parents charged in the meningitis death of their son: “Surely, the obligation to seek medical care kicks in before a child stops breathing multiple times and goes rigid, a telltale sign of life-threatening meningitis. Unfortunately, the judge in this case allowed himself to be bamboozled by a manure pile of irrelevant arguments.”
Globe editorial on housing prices and the federal election: “The last thing Canada’s big cities need is for hot housing markets to get even hotter, and the last thing Canada’s economy needs is for people to pile up more personal debt. The Conservatives in particular are courting danger by threatening to tinker with [The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions’] stress test, the role of which is to prevent banks from making risky loans and people from taking them.”
Wendy Cox
James Keller