Alberta taking federal government to court over revised impact assessment law

Alberta is taking Ottawa to court, saying the federal government has failed to follow through on necessary changes to a law governing resource development. The federal Impact Assessment Act determines whether major resource projects should be approved based on the environmental, economic or social impact each project might have. Premier Danielle Smith says the province will ask the Alberta Court of Appeal to rule on the constitutionality of the act, which was amended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government earlier this year.

Ottawa amended the act after the Supreme Court ruled it must scale back the broad authority granted to it to regulate projects that fall under provincial jurisdiction. Smith says those amendments don’t go far enough to bring the legislation in line with the constitutional division of powers between levels of government. Smith says besides being unconstitutional, the amended act also stands in the way of investment in Alberta’s natural resource industries.



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