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ALBERTA GOVERNMENT

Alberta government challenges Ottawa’s new environmental assessment process

Sep 10, 2019 | 3:20 PM

The Alberta government has officially asked the province’s Appeal Court whether Ottawa’s new environmental assessment process for major construction projects like pipelines is constitutional.

The government filed its challenge with the court on Tuesday, asking it whether the federal government was acting within its authority when it passed the act that established the process earlier this year.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said in June that he was pondering a constitutional challenge, arguing Bill C-69 infringes on the rights of provinces to control their own natural resources and that it will kill what is left of Alberta’s oil-and-gas sector.

When the bill was proclaimed into law last month, the province’s justice and energy ministers vowed to challenge its constitutionality.