Alberta Court of Appeal to rule whether federal assessment law is unconstitutional
CBC
Alberta's highest court is set to release a decision today on the province's attempt to declare the federal government's environmental assessment act unconstitutional.
The Alberta government has called the Impact Assessment Act a "Trojan Horse" that attempts to invade provincial powers by a back door.
The act, given royal assent in 2019, allows the federal government to consider the impacts of new resource projects on issues such as climate change.
Alberta claims the law uses those concerns to greatly expand the range of federal oversight into areas of provincial jurisdiction.
The province was supported in its case by the governments of Saskatchewan and Ontario.
A wide array of environmental and legal groups also intervened in supporting Ottawa.
The Rachel Notley government's consumer carbon tax wound up becoming a weapon the UCP wielded to drum the Alberta NDP out of office. But that levy-and-repayment program, and the wide-ranging "climate leadership plan" around it, also stood as the NDP's boldest, provincial-reputation-altering move in their single-term tenure.