NDP slams Liberals in climate protection retreat

Days after Ottawa proposed weakening the Impact Assessment Act, NDP environment and climate change critic Laurel Collins is warning abandoning greenhouse gas emissions from federal reviews of major projects is a dereliction of responsibility.

As part of its budget implementation bill, Ottawa included amendments to the Impact Assessment Act that removes transboundary air pollution, such as greenhouse gases, from evaluations of major projects like oilsands expansions. The decision is a response to the Supreme Court of Canada’s October reference case, which found the federal impact assessment law was veering out of its lane and into provincial jurisdiction.

That decision sent the federal government back to the drawing board to draft amendments aimed at defending the legislation from possible court challenges. But some environmentalists say the planned changes are too much of a retreat. If the Impact Assessment Act, passed in 2019, saw the federal government overreaching into provincial jurisdiction, critics say the feds have now swung too far in the opposite direction in response.

Specifically, the proposed changes see the federal government maintain jurisdiction over things like species at risk, migratory birds, and transboundary marine pollution. But transboundary air pollution was cut out. The changes are sure to spark new challenges for Ottawa, given that Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault has previously cited major sources of greenhouse gas emissions as a reason why Suncor’s proposed oilsands expansion plans would cause “unacceptable” harm to the environment.

Collins’ May 2 letter to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and Guilbeault didn’t mince words.

“While amendments were necessary to ensure the constitutionality of the Impact Assessment Act … the proposed amendments do not simply address the [court’s judgment], but instead abandon critical federal responsibilities in impact assessment,” she wrote.

Collins said the decision to strip greenhouse gas emissions from the act sets a “dangerous precedent” for the federal government's responsibility to protect the environment.

“By failing to include greenhouse gas emissions in the act, the government is essentially stating that air pollution is not within federal jurisdiction even in cases of cross-border pollution,” she wrote. “We can uphold constitutionality in environmental assessment without undermining strong climate action.”

Collins’ comments hint at a tense political fight over the proposed changes. The same day she sent her letter to the Liberal cabinet ministers, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May held a press conference where she characterized the proposed amendments as a “quick and dirty and inadequate” repair of the Impact Assessment Act. She said the Greens intend to vote against it.

“Hand it to the Liberals on this one,” she said. “They’ve managed to break three platform promises of the 2015 campaign in one fell swoop.”

She accused the Liberals of failing to properly engage and consult with Indigenous Peoples, violating a commitment not to use omnibus budget bills to significantly change federal laws, and breaking a promise to repair environmental assessments.

Fourteen civil society groups have also written to federal ministers this week, urging them to retain transboundary air pollution and “nationally significant” greenhouse gas emissions in the act.

“Canadians have the right to be protected against environmental harms caused by provinces they do not reside in,” the letter from environmental groups reads. “In fact, this is a key principle of our federation — to ensure that the federal government can make decisions in the best interest of Canadians, while individual provinces are focused on advancing the interests of their own residents.

“The federal government should not cave to the pressures of provinces and industry and renounce its crucial role in environmental protection.”

As previously reported by Canada’s National Observer, Guilbeault says he understands environmentalists' concerns, but given the proclivity of provinces like Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and others to sue Ottawa over major environmental and climate change legislation, a solution had to be found.

From that point of view, the Liberals don’t see the amendments as weakening the act, but rather bolstering it by limiting the ways it can be challenged. If the federal government were to lose a court case because it didn’t limit its jurisdiction in a way the Supreme Court of Canada was comfortable with, “our Impact Assessment Act would fall apart and then we would have nothing,” he said.

Since the Impact Assessment Act was implemented, Ottawa has introduced electric vehicle mandates, clean fuel standards, a carbon price and is working to pass clean electricity regulations and a cap on oil and gas sector emissions, Guilbeault said.

“We've beefed up our climate legislation and regulations so much that maybe it's not the end of the world if [greenhouse gas emissions are] not in the impact assessment as criteria to stop projects,” he added.