HORGAN DOESN’T GLOAT

Premier meAsured, ConCiliAtory in response to TrAns MountAin Pipeline Court deCision

When Premier John Horgan met with the news media following the Federal Court of Appeal ruling against the pipeline Thursday, he had every reason to cheer the outcome.

Horgan had taken much political heat for his opposition to the Trans Mountain Pipeline twinning before, during and after the last provincial election.

His stance provoked an ugly trade war with Alberta, got him branded a bad Canadian in some quarters, and was blamed for Ottawa having to bail out the project and buy the pipeline.

Now the second-highest court in the land had sent the project back for reconsideration by the federal government and the National Energy Board.

Moreover it did so on two of the bases that Horgan had grounded his opposition: failure to properly consult B.C. First Nations and failure to consider the impact of the project on the coastal marine environment. Surely this was an opening for Horgan to claim vindication and maybe even perform a little victory dance. Only it didn’t play out that way.

It was, indeed, “a great day,” Horgan told reporters, but mainly for the First Nations that took the project to court and the many British Columbians who had said all along that the NEB process was flawed.

As for the NDP government’s late-in-the-day intervention in the case, filed within weeks of Horgan taking office last summer, the premier readily acknowledged that B.C.’s narrow legal brief was not what carried the day with the Federal Court of Appeal.

“We put forward our arguments in good faith,” said Horgan. “They were not supported today.”

Still, given how the court validated some of the concerns he’d raised in the political arena, did any part of him want to say I told you so? “I, not unlike many British Columbians, held the view that our coast was not adequately considered by the NEB,” Horgan agreed.

“Those citizens have been vindicated today.”

But as the premier also had to concede, many other citizens would not be celebrating the ruling or the blow to jobs and the economy.

Did he at least feel like B.C. had won the day over Alberta?

No gloating on that score — he even voiced sympathy for how this decision would be “devastating ” for many in our neighbouring province.

“I don’t think it is about winning and losing,” emphasized Horgan. “It is about the rule of law.”

He underscored the importance of the rule of law more than once, referring at one point to those British Columbians who “chose to violate injunctions, to violate the law” and “felt the consequences through convictions and in some cases prison time.”

His point being that governments, no less than individuals, have to abide by the law, as his government did in confining itself to challenging the pipeline in court while not abusing its permitting powers.

“What I am most satisfied with is that when we formed a government we looked at what were the practical things we could do within the context of the Canadian family to make our arguments.

“I think we’ve done that effectively,” continued the premier, though he quickly added, “there have been times over the past 13 months where it hasn’t felt that way.”

Which was as close as he came to acknowledging the pressures around this issue during the NDP’s first year in office.

Did he think the pipeline expansion was dead, as many were forecasting?

“Certainly it is something that will no longer be top of mind for British Columbians,” returned Horgan with undisguised relief. The New Democrats are happy to get on with the issues on which they share priorities with the federal Liberals, from housing to the trading relationship with the U.S. to Indigenous rights.

Wrapping up his comments to reporters, he argued the main take-away from the court decision was “how much we have to do here in B.C. to rectify the impacts on Indigenous people.”

For the interests of one or more of the 200 recognized First Nations in B.C. could potentially affect every land use, resource development and infrastructure project in the province.

B.C. has in some instances met the test that Ottawa failed to meet on its consultations on the pipeline. Indeed the same court last year found B.C. Hydro’s consultations on Site C to be adequate.

But the Horgan government is striving to get beyond the legal arena — and notions of a First Nations veto — to develop a framework to regularize consultations and accommodation.

Given those stakes, there was nothing to celebrate in another level of government falling short on the issue of consultations.

As for the other problem flagged by the court, Horgan picked up on the likelihood that the pipeline would be sent back to the National Energy Board for an expedited review, against the backdrop of a more robust version of Ottawa’s ocean-protection plan. B.C. would consider intervening in any reopening of the NEB process, he confirmed. The province will also press forward with the reference case, where it asks the courts to recognize a measure of provincial jurisdiction over the movement of bitumen and other substances.

Establishing provincial jurisdiction was more important than ever, said the premier. Were he in a gloating mood, he might have added that some of the experts who’ve discounted B.C.’s chances in the reference case were surprised by the verdict from the Federal Court of Appeal.

Establishing provincial jurisdiction was more important than ever, said the premier.