B.C. MUST OBEY LAW

Premier Rachel Notley’s decision to boycott B.C. wine wasn’t universally popular, but having imposed it, she should have kept it in place until B.C. Premier John Horgan acknowledged he doesn’t have the power to block expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.

Notley suspended the ban last week after Horgan said he still believes his government has the authority to protect the environment from oil spills, but will ask legal experts to draft a constitutional reference question to submit to the courts. Previously, he said his government would simply impose regulations that would restrict an increase in shipments of diluted bitumen to the West Coast. Notley declared that “B.C. blinked” and is “stepping back from the brink and abiding by the law.”

Horgan’s change in tactics, while praised by Notley, does nothing to provide certainty for the $7.4-billion project, which will triple the amount of oil moving from Alberta to the Pacific coast, where it will fetch a higher price than shipments to America.

The National Energy Board and the federal government have already approved the pipeline expansion, and it’s clear in the Constitution that individual provinces have no jurisdiction over interprovincial infrastructure.

Any delay in beginning construction of the pipeline expansion is a win for Horgan and a loss for Alberta and the rest of Canada. The TD Bank estimates that the lack of market access for Alberta oil has cost the country about $117 billion in the past seven years alone.

United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney is correct when says Alberta should keep up the pressure on the B.C. government until it agrees to stop meddling in an area where it clearly has no authority.

“The Alberta NDP blinked in the face of more delay tactics by their fellow New Democrats in British Columbia,” Kenney said last week in Calgary. “In the face of this obvious transparent delay tactic by the B.C. government, I regret to see that Premier Notley has folded.”

Notley did fold when she ended the ban on B.C. wine. Horgan has promised to use every tool at his disposal to block the pipeline expansion, and causing further delays and uncertainty is one of them.

Kenney estimates a legal challenge could take two to four years to wind its way through the courts. What company would proceed with a $7.4-billion endeavour knowing a cloud of uncertainty hangs over its head?

Having ended the wine boycott, Notley should seek a quick and firm assurance from Horgan that he truly will abide by the law.

Anything less, is a failure.