https://www.marketwatch.com/story/canada-top-court-rules-environmental-review-system-largely-unconstitutional-cf62836b
OTTAWA-Canada's top court ruled Friday that elements of the Liberal government's four-year-old law strengthening environmental reviews for energy and mining projects are unconstitutional because they intrude on the exclusive rights of provinces to manage their natural resources.
The ruling, a 5-2 decision, could mark a blow to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has made a more robust climate-change policy and curbing fossil-fuel emissions from energy projects a centerpiece of his agenda.
"In my view, Parliament has plainly overstepped its constitutional competence" in certain elements of its environmental-review scheme, wrote Chief Justice Richard Wagner for the majority. The court said the federal-assessment system casts too wide a net on which resource-development projects can be subject to an environmental review.
"It is clear that Parliament can enact legislation to protect the environment," said the majority decision, "...so long as it respects the division of powers."
Under Canadian law, the environment is an area of shared jurisdiction between lawmakers in Ottawa and provincial, or state, governments. Provincial governments, however, have responsibility for energy and natural resources within their own boundaries. The Supreme Court decision is the result of a legal challenge from oil-rich Alberta.
This decision, and the victory for Alberta, marks the latest legal row between the Trudeau government and the provinces about modern environmental policy, with Liberal government officials keen to reduce carbon emissions to mitigate climate-change impacts. In 2021, Canada's top court ruled, in a 6-3 decision, that the federal government's carbon tax, or the centerpiece of the Liberal government's environmental-policy agenda, was constitutional. The case reached the top court following a challenge by the provinces.