Province weighs in at hearing over pipeline opposition

The governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan are urging the Federal Court of Appeal to defer to cabinet’s approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline because they say Indigenous opposition shouldn’t outweigh other public interests in the project.

Alberta and Saskatchewan are acting as interveners at a hearing in Vancouver about whether Indigenous groups were meaningfully consulted during a new round of dialogue about the $10 billion project.

The court heard from four Indigenous groups from British Columbia who argue the government already had an outcome in mind when it engaged them and the consultations were therefore inadequate.

Lawyers for the federal government and Trans Mountain Corp. have countered that the Indigenous groups did not approach the consultations in good faith and their applications should be dismissed.

Stephanie Latimer, who represents Alberta’s attorney general, says there is an “ongoing lack of certainty ” about what constitutes reasonable Crown consultation and accommodation in the context of complex, multi-phase projects like Trans Mountain.

But she says the court could increase certainty for investors, provinces and other interested parties through judicial deference to cabinet, which she says is well positioned to make decisions weighing the vast and varied opinions on such projects.

James Fyfe, representing Saskatchewan’s attorney general, told the court that reconciliation should not be allowed to unduly interfere with other rights, such as provincial jurisdiction over natural resources, he argued.

Earlier, Indigenous groups argued in court that the consultation process was rushed and key information was withheld from them.