FEDS MUST EXERT POWER
Since Kinder Morgan’s announcement Sunday that it would suspend all nonessential activities and related spending on the Trans Mountain pipeline, the political rhetoric has only grown more extreme. It seems improbable that the pro- and antipipeline forces will bury the hatchet before the May 31 deadline set by the company to end the uncertainty.
Premier John Horgan had the effrontery this week to say, “All of a sudden, when the shareholders in Texas issue a press release, there’s a constitutional crisis.” Horgan and his government are solely responsible for this imbroglio by ignoring the rule of law (in fact, encouraging defiance of it), engaging in vexatious litigation, misrepresenting the risks of the project, claiming jurisdiction where he has none, and acting against the interest of a majority of Canadians.
And he did so, as Environment Minister George Heyman admitted in the legislature this week, with the knowledge — and legal advice — that his election promise to do everything to stop the project was “inappropriate and unlawful.” There is no constitutional crisis — the constitution is clear: federal law prevails.
In the all-too-likely event that Kinder Morgan walks away from the banana republic antics of Canada’s political leadership and mob rule of its environmental activists, B.C. could find itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit should the company wish to recover the
$1.1 billion it has already spent on the pipeline.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley has said the province would buy the pipeline if that’s what it takes to get it built, and suggested Ottawa might invest in it as well. Transferring the risk of a $7.4-billion infrastructure project from the private to the public sector and, by extension, to Canadian taxpayers, might be a way out of the morass, but it is a bad idea.
A better plan might be for the federal government to exert its authority, curtail financial transfers, suspend federal-provincial partnerships, or take legal action (perhaps invoking its declaratory power under the Constitution Act) to effectively sideline B.C.’s rogue government and clear the way for Kinder Morgan to complete its project. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was set to meet both premiers this weekend in an effort to resolve the dispute. He should demand that Horgan back down. A B.C. Supreme Court judge has recommended that protesters blocking access to Kinder Morgan’s work site in breach of a court order be charged criminally rather than in civil court. That is the kind of tough-minded approach the federal government needs to emulate.
Otherwise, Canada’s reputation as a good place for companies to invest, governed by the rule of law and welcoming of development projects, will remain tarnished, as it has been by the pipeline impasse. And that would leave all Canadians, not just British Columbians, poorer.
Fairness on rentals will be difficult mission for task force
The members of B.C.’s new rental-housing task force will need the wisdom of Solomon to fulfil their mandate.
Premier John Horgan wants the group to suggest changes to tenancy laws to give better protection to both landlords and renters.
The task force will be headed by Spencer Chandra Herbert, NDP MLA for Vancouver West End. It has been 16 years since the last review of the Residential Tenancy Act, and the housing situation in the province has changed dramatically in that time. Vacancy rates are at rock bottom, rents are out of reach for many people and tenants are being “renovicted” out of their homes. Landlords say their interests are not being protected, and new rules will make it harder for them to screen tenants.
Everyone has horror stories about tenants from hell and landlords from hell, but most people on both sides of the equation just want laws that treat them fairly. Tenants want affordable places to live without the fear of being forced out, and landlords want a reasonable return on investment.
The task force must try to strike that balance.