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Originally Posted by Tinordi
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They cite this decision.
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In between the two decisions, some first nations groups took the province to court. In mid-January the B.C. Supreme Court found the province had abdicated its responsibilities when it declined to conduct its own assessment of the pipeline. It said Christy Clark’s government did have the legal duty to insure its environmental standards were respected.
“British Columbia, within its own jurisdiction, has unique objectives, political and social goals, and legal obligations, the court concluded . . . it cannot be the intention of the legislators to allow the voice of British Columbia to be removed in this process for an unknown number of projects, when the purpose behind the EAA (Environmental Assessment Act) is to promote economic interest in this province, and to protect its land and environment.”
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So this is the court decision people now are pointing to to suggest that Quebec is on-side for demanding that the pipeline follow Quebec law. Well, courts can be wrong. The first thing you need to know is that the BCSC is a court of first instance. It's the lowest level of trial. And in my view, on appeal and ultimately before the Supreme Court, that ruling gets reversed. At least, I certainly hope so, because from where I sit it flies right in the face of over a century of high-level jurisprudence about the division of powers under the Constitution.
Quebec is opportunistically taking the position that interprovincial and international trade being solely within the legislative purview of the federal government somehow gives it the right to review - and presumably, prevent - the construction of an interprovincial pipeline. That's completely contrary to how the Constitution has always functioned. In fact, under the section that delegates legislative authority to the provinces, it EXPLICITLY says that the Province has no authority over this stuff:
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Originally Posted by Canada's Constitution
10.
Local Works and Undertakings other than such as are of the following Classes:
(a)
Lines of Steam or other Ships, Railways, Canals, Telegraphs, and other Works and Undertakings connecting the Province with any other or others of the Provinces, or extending beyond the Limits of the Province
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So yeah, I'm not on board.