RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:IAA/Bil C-69 Ruling versus Base Mine Extension Applicationbt...sorry for my incomplete post earlier....won't bore everyone with an excuse....
Some thoughts..
Base Plant
The Supreme Court decision does create some space for the extension of the Base Plant to get approval. However, SU's actions lately in terms of spending billions to get control of Fort Hills to seek enough feedstock to keep production levels constant have been on the basis/assumption that the Base Plant extension was DOA. So ironically, the Supreme Court decision is a mixed blessing for SU and they will need to spend some time doing a rethink of their strategy about what to do next.
From the Federal Government point of vue, this decision is far more sweeping than just the SU Base Plant extension. They will be employing the best brains in the DOJ to come up with an alternative to achieve their objectives which will meet Constitutional tests. Whether they will be successful or not is currently unknown. The Federal Government has clear Constitutional jurisdiction for International trade and Interprovincial commerce. The Supreme Court decision clearly accepted this fact by stating that certain clauses of the Bill are in fact Constitutional. So this means that the Federal Government may and I emphasize MAY find ways to achieve their objective using levers other than an environmental legislation.... they could use international trade or interprovincial powers instead.
So when you put all this together from the perspective of SU managment, they may well conclude that the decision today is irrelevant and they will continue on their current course to meet their feedstock requirement without an extension to the Base Plant given all the uncertainty and related costs to get all that going again.
Personally, if I was the CEO of SU I wouldn't change my strategy based on the Supreme Court decision today and stay the course. I would view the decision as a potential avenue which wasn't available before in the event that the current strategy doesn't work out. If, the management of SU sees things as I do then for all intents and purposes, the Supreme Court decision today is basically a red herring.