The Federal Court has granted the British Columbia government a temporary injunction against Alberta’s turn-off-the-taps legislation, which would allow the landlocked energy-rich province to cut shipments of oil and gas to jurisdictions that oppose pipeline projects.
The Alberta bill was proclaimed into law this spring by Premier Jason Kenney, who says it would only be used if B.C. blocked the expansion of the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline to bring oil from Alberta’s oil sands to oil terminals on B.C.’s Pacific coast.
Justice Sebastien Grammond ruled that Alberta’s so-called turn-off-the-taps legislation raises a serious issue and could cause irreparable harm to the residents of B.C.
He said B.C. has met the test for blocking the law until the courts can decide its validity.
The expansion of the 1,150-kilometre pipeline that currently carries about 300,000 barrels of oil per day from northern Alberta to the oil terminal in Burnaby, a suburb of Vancouver, is seen as critical for Alberta’s and Canada’s economy but has run into stiff opposition from Indigenous and environmental groups, as well as the B.C. government.
With files from The Canadian Press
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