Federal lawyers defended the government's Impact Assessment Act in the Supreme Court of Canada on Tuesday as a two-day hearing started to determine the future of how the country weighs the environmental costs of economic development.
Several of the five-member panel of justices hearing the appeal of an Alberta decision that found the act unconstitutional quizzed Ottawa's representatives about whether the legislation is too broad.
That was one of the main concerns expressed by Alberta when it asked the province's Appeal Court for a reference on the issue.Rowe said the act gives Ottawa the power to use areas of federal jurisdiction to force unconnected policies on other governments. "There may be an effect which is negative, but there could also be other effects," he said. "The whole picture has to be taken into account in the public interest."
Dayna Anderson, Rupar's co-counsel, argued the legislation is needed to ensure national consistency in environmental standards. "Alberta and the interveners in support of its position would have this court upend decades of settled law," said Anna Johnston of the West Coast Environmental Law Association."It would be both illogical and perverse if Parliament could control or limit Indigenous people -- their rights and interests -- but didn't have the ability to protect those rights and interests," said Mae Price, representing Alberta's Mikisew Cree First Nation.
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