B.C.’s request to stop Alberta oil export law rejected

A judge has dismissed the British Columbia government’s request to declare unconstitutional an Alberta law that could restrict the flow of refined oil products to B.C.

The attorney general of B.C. alleged in a statement of claim that the Preserving Canada’s Economic Prosperity Act was meant to counteract steps taken by B.C. in its opposition to the Trans Mountain pipeline project. B.C. had asked Alberta’s Court of Queen’s Bench to declare the law unconstitutional, but Justice R.J. Hall wrote in a decision Friday that since the law was never officially proclaimed, the request to strike it is premature. The act was passed by the Alberta legislature last May and allows limits on fuel exports to B.C.

Plans to triple capacity along the existing Trans Mountain pipeline from Edmonton to Burnaby have pitted Alberta and the federal government against B.C.’s government, which says the risk of a spill is too great for the province’s environment and economy.

Hall wrote that should the Alberta government proclaim the act into force, B.C.’s attorney general may file again.

“Without giving my opinion here, as to the propriety of an injunction application before proclamation of a statute, I am of the view that a claim seeking a declaration as to constitutionality of an Act that has not yet been proclaimed, is premature,” Hall wrote. “For the court to consider such a claim, the Act must first be in force.”

Hall wrote that while B.C. argued that courts consider interim injunctions against laws that have been passed but not proclaimed, he noted that B.C. didn’t ask for an injunction — only that the law be declared unconstitutional.

B.C. Attorney General David Eby argued before the challenge was launched that the Alberta law was unconstitutional because one province cannot punish another.