The province filed a constitutional reference question to the B.C. Court of Appeal that asked whether it had the authority to create a permitting regime for companies that wished to increase their flow of diluted bitumen.
Newbury also wrote that the legislation is not just an environmental law of "general application," but is targeted at one substance, heavy oil, in one interprovincial pipeline: the Trans Mountain expansion project. B.C. argued that the proposed amendments were meant to protect its environment from a hazardous substance, while the federal government and Alberta said the goal was to block Trans Mountain.
She added that the expansion is not just a British Columbia project because it affects the whole country. A provincial public servant would have had the authority to impose conditions on a hazardous substance permit and cancel or suspend the permit if the company did not comply.
It is the feds' call. usurpers