The Supreme Court rules against the federal environmental impact assessment law

Canada’s Supreme Court has ruled that the federal impact assessment law, also known as Bill C-69, is unconstitutional as a whole.

On Friday, five out of seven judges found that the environmental regulation was too broad in assessing environmental impacts.

“Environmental protection remains one of the most pressing challenges of today,” said Chief Justice Richard Wagner. “To address this challenge, Parliament has the power to enact an environmental impact assessment system. However, Parliament also has a duty to act within the permanent framework of separation of powers set out in the Constitution.”

The bill, passed by Parliament in 2019, establishes a procedure for assessing the environmental impact of planned energy projects. It also allows for greater public consultation and participation in the assessment of future energy projects.

The law’s critics called it the “No More Pipelines” bill. The province of Alberta sent the decision to the Alberta Court of Appeal, which declared the law unconstitutional in 2022. Ottawa appealed the decision to the Supreme Court and arguments were heard last spring. Nine of the ten provinces reject the plan.

“The system’s decision-making mechanism therefore loses its focus on regulating federal impacts,” Wagner said. “The constitutional weaknesses of the system’s decision-making functions are exacerbated by its focus on regulating too broad a range of impacts.”

The designated projects section of the Act, which includes projects specified in the provisions of the Bill and subject to ministerial orders, is the section that the Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional.

However, the ruling rules that sections 81-91 of the bill, which relate to projects carried out on federal lands, are constitutional.

There’s more to come…