It’s Friday the 13th. Let’s hope that’s not an omen about how much the “new oilsands growth incentive” that’ll be announced this afternoon in Calgary is going to cost us Alberta taxpayers!
As we all know, nothing exceeds like excess, so it would be totally on brand for the United Conservative Party Government to announce it’ll be pouring more of our money into an industry that’s already reporting record profits and cutting jobs by the thousands.
The provincial government alerted the media yesterday it would be holding an “embargoed media briefing” this morning to be followed by an unembargoed news conference in the afternoon. This gives the government a chance to spin its announcement hard in return for giving reporters a few hours extra to write their stories without being able to talk to critics of the upcoming announcement. It is a highly manipulative news management technique that seems to work pretty well.
Premier Danielle Smith, Energy Minister Brian Jean and Finance Minister Jason Nixon will all be there, so this will also provide a chance for the UCP’s Big Names to gloat about the Carney Government’s decision to roll over on the Impact Assessment Act and not appeal an Alberta Court of Appeal decision last month that the act still gives Ottawa too much power to stop projects in provincial jurisdiction.
A smug statement yesterday by Premier Smith and Justice Minister Mickey Amery cast this as a legal victory for the UCP Government, as opposed to a political victory, which it certainly is.
“Alberta wins again,” the statement crowed irritatingly – and rather tendentiously, since we’ll never know what the Supreme Court of Canada would have said about it. Moreover, since the federal Liberals still plan to amend the bill, it’s possible it might turn out to be a smaller victory than the UCP brain trust would like us to think.
“Bill C-69 (or the ‘no new pipelines’ law) was found unconstitutional by Alberta’s Court of Appeal yet again and the federal government has agreed not to appeal the decision,” the Smith-Amery statement smugly continued.
Whatever. The UCP is entitled to have its fun. This political victory does suggest that Canadians chose the right party for unrestrained Tory-blue petroleum policies when they elected the Liberals as the government of Canada with Mark Carney as prime minister. This must be intensely frustrating for old what’s-his-name, the Member of Parliament for Battle River-Crowfoot.
One does have to wonder what Mr. Amery had in mind when he vowed in the statement that “we will keep winning those battles for Albertans, by any means necessary.” (Emphasis added.) Say what?
It is unusual for the federal government not to appeal. Nevertheless, The Canadian Press reported, a spokesperson for federal Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin confirmed that was indeed Ottawa’s plan.
None of the major environmental groups appeared to bother replying to the annoying statement from Ms. Smith and Mr. Amery, presumably because they’d already commented on the court ruling.
“It’s totally flabbergasting,” Anna Johnston, a staff lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law, told The Toronto Star on Remembrance Day. “They had the opportunity to get clarity from the Supreme Court of Canada, and instead they’re letting a lower court’s opinion perhaps unnecessarily curtail federal jurisdiction.”
Ecojustice said in a news release Tuesday that “this decision leaves the future of federal impact assessment legislation uncertain and adds to serious doubts about the government’s commitment to maintaining a strong federal role in environmental protection.” That’s obviously fair.
“We urge the (federal) government to engage with Indigenous peoples, environmental experts, and the public about establishing a strong, constitutionally sound federal impact assessment law,” said Ecojustice Climate Director Charlie Hatt.
The Ecojustice statement concluded by adding that “the federal government must also reconsider Bill C-39, which would further roll back federal assessment and approval processes and threatens to further weaken environmental oversight.”
Last month, Environmental Defence cleverly dubbed C-39, Mr. Carney’s signature Building Canada Strong Act, the Bulldoze Nature Bill, a phrase that through constant repetition could become as familiar as the No New Pipelines Law.
Speaking of new pipelines, the Pembina Institute released a study yesterday that concludes “the taxpayer-funded Pacific Link pipeline project will drive new greenhouse gas emissions that would nearly negate progress from Alberta’s coal phase-out.”
“Pipeline Promises, Climate Risks finds that the emissions impacts of the Pacific Link project are dominated by increased oilsands production to fill the one million barrels/day pipeline,” the Calgary-based renewable energy think tank said in a news release. “This additional production will release 24.81–28.75 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2e) each year.”