Province to take the fight against C-69 to Ottawa
Parts of new energy legislation ‘don’t meet our needs,’ Notley says
Two cabinet ministers will testify that Ottawa’s proposed legislation overhauling Canada’s energy regulatory process hurts Alberta and oversteps provincial jurisdiction, says Premier Rachel Notley.
“We haven’t seen the movement we had hoped to see,” Notley told reporters after a speech at the International Pipeline Conference in Calgary Tuesday. “There are areas that don’t meet our needs and need to be changed. We are going to be very, very definitive.”
Bill C-69, dubbed the Impact Assessment Act, would change the rules for project approvals and replace the National Energy Board with a new Canadian energy regulator. It passed in the House of Commons in June and is in its second reading before the Senate.
Energy Minister Marg McCuaigBoyd and Environment and Parks Minister Shannon Phillips will head to Ottawa to make a case against the bill, Notley said.
The date for the Senate hearing hasn’t been set.
“They have been engaging with Ottawa over quite a period of time,” she said. “We have an obligation to the people of Alberta to look at what’s actually in writing, not rely on conversations we have with people.”
The province supports the intent of the bill, but there are too many areas of uncertainty, she added.
That includes information about timelines and the proposed criteria for project approvals. Another sticking point is that the legislation should exclude downstream emissions from being considered when approving pipelines, she said.
The work the Alberta government and provincial energy industry has done through the climate leadership plan should be considered when approving projects, Notley said.
“And should, in effect, remove most of our major projects from the project list so it would not be subject to this process.
“That is the kind of signalling we have gotten, but it’s not clear yet.”
United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney said the province rebuffed his party’s calls to fight the bill when it was introduced in February.
“Too little, too late,” he said at a Tuesday news conference, adding the NDP government has shown a record of weakness and surrender when it comes to disagreements with Ottawa.
“This is testing time for the Notley-Trudeau alliance. Will Justin Trudeau listen to the concerns of the Government of Alberta or will he proceed with the ‘no more pipelines’ law?”
Kenney also said that the issue is “reaching a state of emergency” that risks investor confidence in Alberta’s energy industry.
“The federal government got this wrong,” he said, adding he doesn’t believe the bill is necessary.
“I don’t support making an already too-complicated and timeconsuming process even more complicated and even more time consuming.”
In her speech, Notley said Bill C-69 overreached and also spoke about the latest blow to Alberta’s pipeline industry when a Federal Court of Appeal decision threw the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion into uncertainty.
“If this ridiculousness is allowed to continue, all Canadians will pay a heavy economic price for many years to come,” she told the crowd at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
The court ruling quashed the approval given to the expansion project by the NEB and cabinet in 2016, citing lack of consultation with Indigenous communities and a failure to properly consider the impact of additional oil tanker traffic off the coast of British Columbia.
Last week, federal Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi said the NEB has 22 weeks to complete its environmental review, this time taking into account the marine shipping issue.
Canada’s plans to restart consultations with Indigenous communities will be announced shortly, he added.
Notley said while Ottawa laid out a reasonable timeline, she remains skeptical.
In her speech Tuesday, she reiterated that her government would “hold Ottawa’s feet to the fire.”
I don’t support making an already too-complicated and time-consuming process even more complicated.