Tag Archives: Trans Mountain Pipeline

The Supremes keep the lid on the keg – the beer still does not flow freely in Canada – R. v. Comeau, 2018 SCC 15

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drink-beer.jpgOn April 19, 2018, in R. v. Comeau, 2018 SCC 15,  the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that New Brunswick was within its rights to control the flow of beer across its provincial borders: unrestrained interprovincial free trade in Canada (at least for beer) is still a pipedream. But imbedded in the Court’s judgment were seeds that, properly fertilized and irrigated, may well grow into a more robust protection of economic union.

Mr. Comeau had decided that he wanted to bring some cheaper Quebec beer and other alcohol across the Québec/New Brunswick border. The police in New Brunswick were lying in wait for him and charged him with a violation of the New Brunswick Liquor Control Act. At trial, he challenged the constitutionality of s. 134(b) of the Liquor Control Act, arguing that it contravened s. 121 of the Constitution Act, 1867.

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Alberta retaliates against BC: this ain’t how to act in a federation….

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The Fraser River

Two NDP premiers and two NDP governments. Two provinces side by side in the Canadian west, one – the Far West, Lotusland British Columbia. The other – just “the West”, rough and tumble oil baron Alberta. Alberta is landlocked. It needs to get its oil…. sorry, let’s be accurate here, its bitumen to markets other than the United States (currently, the world’s biggest producer of petroleum). In particular, Alberta wants access to markets where they will pay more money for its bitumen, extracted from its oil sands. British Columbia is a land of milk and honey – okay, let’s be accurate, it’s a land of mountains, rivers and fjords. British Columbians are highly protective of their environment, the ruggedness of which is only surpassed by the fragility of the eco-systems that populate it. Enter the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (“TMX”).

The feds approved a massive expansion of the existing Trans Mountain pipeline that takes diluted bitumen from Alberta through British Columbia to a terminal located in Burrard Inlet that is part of Metro-Vancouver. Once built, this will mean a huge increase in freighter traffic in and out of Vancouver’s ports. The TMX will result in increased risk of bitumen spills in the port, in the Salish Sea, in the Fraser River and its estuary and all along the route of the pipeline. In short, it will dramatically boost Alberta’s access to world markets for its bitumen but it will equally raise the risk to likely do incalculable damage to British Columbia’s rivers, lands and coastlines.

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