{"id":266128,"date":"2018-04-13T15:19:49","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T19:19:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/issues\/trans-mountain-saga-public-policy-failure\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T22:03:41","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T02:03:41","slug":"trans-mountain-saga-public-policy-failure","status":"publish","type":"issues","link":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/04\/trans-mountain-saga-public-policy-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trans Mountain saga as a public policy failure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kinder Morgan\u2019s April 8 ultimatum to Canada<\/a> \u2014 clear a direct path for our Trans Mountain pipeline expansion by May 31 or we\u2019ll down tools for good \u2014 has been called<\/a> an economic and constitutional disaster. The good news is that it\u2019s neither of those things. The bad news? It\u2019s much worse.<\/p>\n

A handy definition<\/a> of a constitution is \u201ca system for managing disagreement and convergence, a system that leaves open the possibility of conflict without everlasting bitterness and reproach.\u201d Judged against that standard, our federal and provincial governments\u2019 handling of the Trans Mountain dispute between the Province of British Columbia, which opposes the project, and Alberta and Ottawa, who both support it, leaves much to be desired.<\/p>\n

Just don\u2019t blame our Constitution. This is a failure of public policy, not constitutional law.<\/p>\n

Trans Mountain\u2019s supporters insist that its approval falls solely within the federal government\u2019s jurisdiction over interprovincial energy projects. The federal government, they add, approved the pipeline expansion after carefully considering both its environmental and economic impacts. BC\u2019s opposition, on this view, is nothing more than an unconstitutional delay tactic.<\/p>\n

As a matter of textbook constitutional law, Trans Mountain\u2019s supporters are undoubtedly right about Ottawa\u2019s jurisdiction. But the real issue runs deeper than the Constitution\u2019s text. Underneath is an undeniably flawed regulatory review conducted by the soon-to-be-decommissioned National Energy Board, a review later supplemented by the Liberal government. The NEB\u2019s review of Trans Mountain<\/a> ignored spill impact and response concerns (a key issue raised by BC before the board), denied participants the basic legal right to cross-examine witnesses (including Kinder Morgan representatives), and disregarded<\/a> impacts on First Nations.<\/p>\n

The federal government\u2019s additional review<\/a> added little. It was unable even \u201cto conclude definitively on whether [carbon] emissions will increase as a result of the project.\u201d Yet the government still claimed \u2014 without explaining how \u2014 that the project wouldn\u2019t adversely affect its ability to achieve its 2030 emissions reduction target, which it\u2019s nowhere near meeting.<\/p>\n

This is why so many Canadians find it difficult to accept the federal government\u2019s approval as the last word on the pipeline. It\u2019s not the government\u2019s jurisdiction that Canadians doubt; it\u2019s the government\u2019s underlying environmental policy.<\/p>\n

But the trouble doesn\u2019t end there.<\/p>\n

On January 30, 2018 BC proposed measures<\/a> to improve its \u201cpreparedness, response and recovery\u201d relating to diluted bitumen spills. Most controversially, BC intends to restrict the flow of diluted bitumen \u2014 which is what the expanded pipeline would carry \u2014 until such spills can be safely managed. This measure was immediately denounced as an unconstitutional collateral attack on the federal approval of Trans Mountain. BC is referring the issue to the courts.<\/p>\n

BC\u2019s proposed measure is constitutional on its face. In a 2016 decision known as Coastal First Nations<\/em><\/a>, concerning the equally controversial Northern Gateway pipeline, the BC Supreme Court ruled that while Northern Gateway was interprovincial, it was not national, and it posed disproportionate risks to British Columbians. According to the court, \u201cTo disallow any provincial regulation over the project because it engages a federal undertaking would significantly limit the Province\u2019s ability to protect social, cultural and economic interests in its lands and waters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Provided that BC\u2019s spill response regulation meets this territorially-based jurisdictional test \u2014 and there\u2019s no reason why it can\u2019t be carefully crafted to do so \u2014 it will be constitutional. Then it would fall to the courts to determine whether federal and provincial jurisdiction over the pipeline can coexist. As the Federal Court recently ruled in a case called Taseko Mines<\/em><\/a>, concerning the environmental assessment of an open-pit gold and copper mine in BC, \u201cA project of such magnitude as the one considered in the present case will likely have impacts in areas of both provincial and federal responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

BC\u2019s entirely constitutional measure to protect its lands and waters is undermined by an equally unconvincing approach to environmental protection.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The trouble is that Trans Mountain\u2019s supporters don\u2019t believe for a second that BC\u2019s proposed regulation is a bona fide environmental measure. As noted above, they see it as nothing more than a political stall tactic. Indeed, it\u2019s getting harder by the day for those opposed to Trans Mountain for genuinely environmental reasons to believe BC either. The province recently announced tax incentives to attract liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects. Premier John Horgan\u2019s own coalition partner, BC Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver, said<\/a> that he was \u201cvery, very skeptical that you can even have a [climate] plan that includes adding eight megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions,\u201d referring to LNG Canada\u2019s proposed $40-billion natural gas pipeline and terminal project for BC. Even its most ardent supporters freely admit<\/a> \u201cLNG is not the greenest energy source.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, just as the federal government\u2019s constitutional approval of Trans Mountain rests upon a flawed regulatory review process and puzzling climate policy, BC\u2019s entirely constitutional measure to protect its lands and waters is undermined by an equally unconvincing approach to environmental protection.<\/p>\n

Little wonder we\u2019re resorting to threats of constitutional litigation. Litigation is often legislation by other means.<\/p>\n

But formalistic, all-or-nothing arguments about constitutional jurisdiction only obscure our deeper policy problems. No constitution, no mere parchment, can resolve fundamental disagreements about the country\u2019s future. Until we settle those underlying economic and environmental policy issues in an open and democratically accountable fashion, arguing over constitutional jurisdiction virtually guarantees conflict accompanied by everlasting bitterness and reproach.<\/p>\n

Photo:\u00a0Pipes are seen at the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain facility in Edmonton, April 6, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Jonathan Hayward.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Kinder Morgan\u2019s April 8 ultimatum to Canada \u2014 clear a direct path for our Trans Mountain pipeline expansion by May 31 or we\u2019ll down tools for good \u2014 has been called an economic and constitutional disaster. The good news is that it\u2019s neither of those things. The bad news? It\u2019s much worse. A handy definition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":256914,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-10-08T02:03:43Z","apple_news_api_id":"65ad20a6-c72d-4bce-826a-32e35d44409b","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-10-08T02:03:43Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AZa0gpsctS86CajLjXURAmw","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[9361,9358,9372],"tags":[8653],"article-status":[],"irpp-category":[4327,4261,4295],"section":[],"irpp-tag":[],"class_list":["post-266128","issues","type-issues","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environnement","category-politique","category-recent-stories-fr","tag-fossil-fuels-fr","irpp-category-energie","irpp-category-environnement","irpp-category-politique"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Trans Mountain saga as a public policy failure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/04\/trans-mountain-saga-public-policy-failure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Trans Mountain saga as a public policy failure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kinder Morgan\u2019s April 8 ultimatum to Canada \u2014 clear a direct path for our Trans Mountain pipeline expansion by May 31 or we\u2019ll down tools for good \u2014 has been called an economic and constitutional disaster. 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