The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, which acted as an intervenor in the process, is pleased with a Supreme Court of Canada decision which found that the federal government’s Impact Assessment Act is largely unconstitutional.
The province of Alberta had gone to the Supreme Court to challenge the legislation which was implemented to consider both the environmental and social impacts of major natural resource and infrastructure projects.
Alberta feared that the legislation would effectively ban oil pipelines, resulting in a significant economic blow to the region.
Amnesty International, meanwhile, has declared that the construction of pipelines on Indigenous territory endangers land defenders.
Members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation in British Columbia blocked roads in a prolonged protest last summer in opposition to the Coastal GasLink pipeline project. Those protests eventually spread across the country.
Petroleum producers are pleased with the Supreme Court of Canada decision which they say “affirms the roles of each level of government” and “looks forward to” ensuring “that projects in the national interest” will proceed in a timely manner.
