Author Archives: Martin Olszynski

About Martin Olszynski

B.Sc. in Biology (Saskatchewan), LL.B. (Saskatchewan), LL.M. Specialization in Environmental Law (University of California at Berkeley). Assistant Professor. Please click here for more information.

Federal Court of Appeal Provides Reasons in TMX Leave Applications

By: Nigel Bankes, Martin Olszynski and David Wright

PDF Version: Federal Court of Appeal Provides Reasons in TMX Leave Applications

Decision Commented On: Raincoast Conservation Foundation v Canada (Attorney General), 2019 FCA 224.

On September 4, 2019, the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) granted leave to six of the twelve parties who had applied for judicial review of Cabinet’s decision to re-approve the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) project. This post situates this most recent development in the broader TMX context and examines this rare instance of the FCA providing reasons in a leave decision. Continue reading →

Setting the Record Straight on Federal and Provincial Jurisdiction Over the Environmental Assessment of Resource Projects in the Provinces

By: Martin Olszynski and Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: Setting the Record Straight on Federal and Provincial Jurisdiction Over the Environmental Assessment of Resource Projects in the Provinces

Matter Commented On:Bill C-69: An Act to enact the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, to ament the Navigation Protection Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts

Alberta’s new premier has recently threatened to sue the federal government over Bill C-69, the Liberal government’s attempt to restore some credibility to Canada’s environmental assessment regime. More specifically, Premier Kenney has recently been asserting that section 92A of the Constitution Act, 1982, which gives the provinces jurisdiction over the development of non-renewable natural resources, precludes the federal government from assessing what the Premier describes as “provincial projects”: “[BillC-69] gives a new federal agency the power to regulate provincial projects, such as in situ oil sands developments and petrochemical refineries, which are entirely within a province’s borders and already subject to provincial regulation. It disregards a landmark Supreme Court ruling on jurisdiction and the balance between federal and provincial powers spelled out in the Constitution — including section 92A in which provinces have exclusive authority over non-renewable resource projects.” In making these comments, the Premier contradicts almost three decades of settled jurisprudence with respect to the federal and provincial division of powers over the environment generally, and federal jurisdiction to conduct environmental assessments specifically. Continue reading →

(Final?) Brief re: Bill C-69 to the Senate Committee on Energy, Environment and Natural Resources

By: Martin Olszynski

Legislation Commented On:Bill C-69, An Act to enact the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, to amend the Navigation Protection Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts

PDF Version: (Final?) Brief re: Bill C-69 to the Senate Committee on Energy, Environment and Natural Resources

The Senate Committee on Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources (the Committee) is in the final stages of its hearings into Bill C-69, which if passed will replace the current federal environmental assessment regime pursuant to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012, SC 2012 c 19 s 52 (CEAA, 2012). What follows is a slightly edited version of the brief that I submitted to the Committee last week, following my appearance before it on April 9, 2019, here in Calgary.

I am pleased to submit this brief to the Committee as part of your review of Bill C-69 – and the proposed Impact Assessment Act (IAA) in particular. Much has been said and written about Bill C-69. In addition to this brief, I myself have written or co-written the following articles/blogs since Bill C-69 was passed in the House of Commons:

My own contributions have been spurred less by a desire to defend the Bill and more to simply set the record straight. That is the spirit that animated my remarks to the Committee on April 9, 2019 and that is at the core of this brief, which is organized as follows: Continue reading →

What is the Concern with Recognizing GHGs as a Matter of National Concern?

By: Martin Olszynski

PDF Version: What is the Concern with Recognizing GHGs as a Matter of National Concern?

Matter Commented On: Reference re: Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act 

All eyes are on Saskatchewan this week, as the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal prepares to hear arguments in the federal greenhouse gas pricing reference. To most observers, this reference may appear to be simply about the constitutionality – or not – of the federal government’s greenhouse gas (GHG) pricing regime set out in the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, SC 2018, c 12, s 186 (GGPPA). As further set out in this post, however, for constitutional and environmental lawyers and scholars, this reference is less about whether the federal government can regulate GHGs but rather the basis upon which it can do so.

Continue reading →

Bill C-69’s Detractors Can Blame Harper’s 2012 Omnibus Overreach (Blog Edition)

By: Martin Olszynski

PDF Version: Bill C-69’s Detractors Can Blame Harper’s 2012 Omnibus Overreach (Blog Edition)

Legislation Commented On: An Act to enact the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, to amend the Navigation Protection Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts (Bill C-69)

Last week, Postmedia columnists Licia Corbella and Don Braid both set their sights on Bill C-69, the federal Liberal’s environmental law reform bill that proposes new impact assessment legislation and the replacement of the current National Energy Board with a new Canadian Energy Regulator. Ms. Corbella claimed that Bill C-69 is “so destructive it just might be the bookend to [the] disastrous and infamous National Energy Program.” Mr. Braid suggested that it poses a “grave danger” to the already beleaguered Trans Mountain pipeline and implored for the Bill to be “ritually slaughtered” by the Senate when it comes before it later this fall.

The problem is that Bill C-69 poses no such danger. In fact, the relevant transitional provision (s 182) makes clear that a project like Trans Mountain, whose assessment began under the current Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012, SC 2012 c 19 s 52 (CEAA, 2012), would remain under that regime even if that assessment is not completed when the law comes into force. Unfortunately, almost all of Ms. Corbella and Mr. Braid’s assertions about Bill C-69, as well as those of the Canada West Foundation’s Martha Hall Findlay and former Conservative Party leadership candidate Rick Peterson, on which both columnists rely, do not withstand scrutiny.

Continue reading →