Send pipeline case to top court: Senator
OTTAWA• An independent senator is calling on the federal government to expedite a decision over the Trans Mountain pipeline to the Supreme Court of Canada, saying escalating tensions in B.C. and Alberta threaten to undo the $7.4-billion project before construction begins in earnest.
Calgary- based senator Doug Black believes that failure to expedite a decision on the Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. pipeline will allow opponents to continue to delay the embattled project.
“My view is let’s just cut to the chase and get it done,” Black said Monday. “We need to prevent further unnecessary delay to moving the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain project forward.”
The senator’s comments come after he introduced Bill S-245 on Feb. 15. The bill aims to declare the project is to the general advantage of Canada, but has yet to reach its second reading in the Red Chamber. The bill was seconded by Conservative B.C. senator Richard Neufeld.
By referring his bill to the Supreme Court for an expedited decision, Ottawa could provide final approval to the project in a timely manner and overturn objections from the NDP-Green Party coalition government, environmental groups and some municipalities, which have put severe strain on building timelines for the pipeline, Black said.
Tensions over Trans Mountain have risen in recent weeks after the B. C. NDP party, led by premier John Horgan, proposed to halt any shipments of bitumen though the province until a panel could determine whether the heavy oil could be adequately cleaned from waterway in case of a spill.
The move kicked off a trade spat between the two provinces, with Alberta declaring a boycott on B.C. wine sales into the province. The standoff has since eased after Horgan said the province will refer the issue to the courts.
But the environmentallyminded portion of the NDPGreen Party alliance could still block the pipeline. In an interview with CBC that aired Sunday, Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver repeated claims that his party would use “every tool in the toolbox” to delay the pipeline. He said their party’s decision to deescalate the trade war between the two provinces did not mean it would back down on opposing the expansion of the project.
“Rather than argue about it in the media, it’s going to the courts,” he said.
The B.C. government announced last week it would seek a reference from the courts on the case — a move that a spokesperson with Natural Resources Canada said “only serves to illustrate that it knows it does not have constitutional authority over interprovincial pipelines. We declined to join B.C.’s legal strategy because it is groundless.”
Meanwhile, Black’s call to expedite a decision to the Supreme Court is unlikely to be heard, according to Alastair Lucas, a professor at the Canadian Institute of Resources Law in Calgary, adding the move seems more “marketing” than a policy that would actually clear away legal hurdles for the pipeline proponent. “That power that hasn’t been used in decades,” he said.
Black commended recent comments by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reaffirming that the pipeline should be built, but argued more con- crete action on the project is required.
“Simply saying this pipeline will get built will not get this pipeline built,” he said.
In an interview with the National Observer on Feb. 14, Trudeau accused premier Horgan of attempting to “scuttle our national plan on fighting climate change” by blocking the project.
Environmental groups, and some political parties, have long opposed major pipeline developments in Canada by tying them up in the courts, setting back construction timelines and sapping investor confidence.
“The strategy they’ve landed on is to talk the project to death,” Black said.