Major energy projects: Quebec does not rule out challenging a federal law

The Legault government has not ruled out playing “a more active role” in the event of another legal challenge to the Impact Assessment Act adopted by the federal government, which applies to large energy projects. While Alberta is considering going to court, “we could be involved,” says Quebec Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette.

Under the Impact Assessment Act, even if a project is planned on provincial territory, Ottawa can impose an assessment and prevent its completion if it considers its environmental impacts too considerable.

Adopted in 2019, this law was contested by Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan, who denounced interference in the provinces’ areas of jurisdiction with regard to the management of their natural resources. In 2023, the Supreme Court of Canada found this law largely unconstitutional.

Although the nation’s highest court recognized that the federal government had a legitimate role to play in environmental issues, it ruled that the impacts considered in the law were too broad.

For example, Ottawa can request the evaluation of a project as soon as it suspects potential effects on climate change, in terms of cultural and natural heritage as well as on historical, archaeological, paleontological or architectural levels. It is difficult to imagine a major project that would not involve any of these effects, the Supreme Court indicated.

Last May, the Trudeau government made changes to its law to respond to criticism. However, Alberta considers that despite these changes, the law remains unconstitutional. The province is threatening to take the process back to court.

The federal government comes back to us essentially with the same version and somehow ignores the response of the Supreme Courtdeplores in turn Minister Benoit Charette. We want to produce more renewable energy in Quebec to decarbonize […]. We have the environmental assessment procedure in Quebec which is the strictest. No need to add extra layers.

Fears of delays in the mining sector

As the Legault government adopted a law that puts an end to the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbon sources, the problem arises especially for the mining sector. Minister Charette fears that an additional assessment from Ottawa will impose months or years delays, which could threaten projects in the battery sector requiring critical minerals.

This removes all predictability for the projects we want to put forward. We don’t want to complicate things. If our evaluation in Quebec already takes X number of months and the federal government, through its own procedure, adds additional months, we will not be able to meet our objectives. It’s a question of duplication and efficiency too.

Minister Charette is currently working on a strategy to review the environmental assessment stages and to reduce delays.

This is not because we want to neglect environmental protection. On the contrary, we have good regulations, but they can be complex at times, so we want to simplify them without removing criteria. We would thwart these efforts with federal legislationhe maintains.

Before participating in a legal challenge, Minister Charette sent a letter to his federal counterpart, Steven Guilbeault, to inform him of Quebec’s demands.

In the last appeal before the Supreme Court, the government of Quebec showed interest in the cause. We do not rule out, if we were to resume the exercise, playing a more active role at this time. We could be involvedadds Mr. Charette.

Above all, it focuses on collaboration, excellentby Mr. Guilbeault. There is still space for discussion. It’s an outstretched hand. I hope that this will be followed up to avoid further recourse to the courts.

In a statement sent to Radio-Canada, the office of the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change states precisely that it’s by working together […] that we will be able to accelerate the deployment of clean growth projects to reduce our emissions while ensuring and not compromising the environmental rigor of the projects.

: fish and their habitat, aquatic species at risk, migratory birds, federal lands, impacts on indigenous populations and transboundary changes leading to pollution of transboundary waters and the marine environment”,”text”:” The Government of Canada would only require an assessment for projects likely to have significant adverse effects falling within an area of ​​federal jurisdiction, namely: fish and their habitat, aquatic species at risk, migratory birds , federal lands, impacts on indigenous populations and transboundary changes leading to pollution of transboundary waters and the marine environment”}}”>The Government of Canada would only require an assessment for projects likely to have significant adverse effects falling within an area of ​​federal jurisdiction, namely: fish and their habitat, aquatic species at risk, migratory birds , federal lands, impacts on indigenous populations and transboundary changes leading to pollution of transboundary waters and the marine environmentspecifies Minister Guilbeault’s office.