Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s controversial Trans Mountain pipeline expansion gets boost from court ruling
- British Columbia’s top court says province’s proposed rules on oil-sands crude ‘threatened to usurp’ role of federal regulator
- Legislation had potential to affect stop entire TMX project ‘in its tracks’
British Columbia’s top appeal court ruled the province does not have the jurisdiction to restrict shipments of oil-sands crude, giving a boost to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s bid to complete the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
The Trans Mountain expansion project seeks to almost triple the capacity of an existing pipeline that runs from oil-rich Alberta to a terminal in Vancouver’s port in British Columbia.
It would mean a seven-fold increase in tanker traffic in the area and is seen by the federal government and the oil industry as critical to reducing Canada’s dependence on the US, which takes almost all the nation’s oil exports.
Premier John Horgan’s government is seeking to amend the British Columbia’s Environmental Management Act so that the province has greater powers to regulate the transit of heavy oils like diluted bitumen from neighbouring Alberta.
The government had sought the opinion of the B.C. Court of Appeal on whether the proposed legislation falls within its powers under Canada’s constitution.
