Alberta Gives Ottawa 4-Week Deadline to ‘Remedy’ Impact Assessment Act

A truck carries pipes in Edson, Alta., on June 18, 2019. Jason Franson/The Canadian Press

Alberta is giving Ottawa four weeks to address the province’s concerns about federal overreach in the amended Impact Assessment Act on environmental evaluation or face another legal challenge.

Premier Danielle Smith said she is ready to take the federal government to court if it does not “remedy,” within four weeks, what the province calls unconstitutional provisions in the amended act, according to an Oct. 4 news release.

The Supreme Court of Canada last year declared the act “largely unconstitutional,“ and the province said it “repeatedly” asked Ottawa to share details of its amendments, ”to no effect.”

The Impact Assessment Act (IAA), previously known as Bill C-69, violated provincial jurisdiction, the Supreme Court ruled on Oct. 13, 2023. Ottawa said it would amend the act, and on June 20, the federal government amended the legislation. The act imposes federal environmental evaluation requirements for major projects, while the province says its own environmental regulatory framework is sufficient.

Alberta said Ottawa’s amendments “were not meaningfully consulted on,” don’t correct “the constitutional deficiencies identified by the Supreme Court of Canada,” and continue to allow the federal government to “encroach into provincial jurisdiction.”

The federal government said in June that the amended act responds “meaningfully” to the court’s decision, addressing decision-making on areas “of clear federal jurisdiction” and enhancing “flexibility to cooperate with other jurisdictions in support of cooperative federalism.”

In a social media post on Oct. 4, Smith said the federal government “is ignoring the Supreme Court and threatening Alberta’s economy with its unconstitutional Impact Assessment Act.

“We’ve given them four weeks to fix this overreach or face another legal battle. Alberta will not back down—we’re ready to defend our jurisdiction, our jobs, and our future.”

The act’s stated purpose is to “foster sustainability” and to “protect the components of the environment, and the health, social and economic conditions that are within the legislative authority of Parliament from adverse effects caused by a designated project.”

Amendments

The amendments Ottawa made in June include “preventing or mitigating adverse effects in areas of federal constitutional responsibility,” cooperation with other jurisdictions, and establishing that “effects within federal jurisdiction” corresponds to areas of federal jurisdiction under the Constitution.

Smith communicated the four-week deadline and expressed concern about the lack of consultation in an Oct. 3 letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Alberta says the amended act continues to allow Ottawa to “derail, delay and interfere in virtually in any project.” The province asks Ottawa to take a number of steps such as imposing timelines, curbing ministerial discretion, streamlining processes and public participation, recognizing provincial environmental assessment standards, and limiting government overreach.

Alberta challenged the constitutionality of Bill C-69 in 2019, with then-Alberta premier Jason Kenney calling the legislation the “No More Pipelines Act” because of the regulatory burden the province said it created. Alberta, along with other provinces and First Nations groups, argued the law infringed on provincial jurisdiction.

Alberta filed its case in September 2019, and in May 2022 the province’s Court of Appeal, in a non-binding opinion, said the act was unconstitutional. The federal government referred the matter to the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled the act infringed on provincial jurisdiction.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has said that the legislation is important for ensuring proper environmental assessments and could be amended within the right legal framework.

“The Supreme Court reiterated the fact that federal government can and should be doing impact assessment,” Guilbeault said in October 2023. “It gave us guidance in terms of where we needed to course-correct and that is what we will be doing.”

Environmental groups such as Ecojustice have supported the legislation, calling it “an important environmental law that protects people across Canada, and the air, water, and land we all depend on.” The group says protecting the environment is a shared responsibility of both levels of government, and that all projects should be subject to a “comprehensive federal environmental assessment to protect against harm in Canada’s areas of responsibility.”

Smith said the federal government is catering to activists with its amendments, and that it should adopt the amendments proposed by the province “to make the legislation constitutional.”

“We expect the federal government to implement these changes promptly,” she said.

Noé Chartier contributed to this report.