Ontario Attorney-General Doug Downey announced Tuesday his province would go to court in an effort to finish what Alberta started when Alberta launched a Supreme Court reference case challenging the federal government’s Impact Assessment Act.
Immediately after the Supreme Court’s decision, the federal government said it would revise the act to make it comply. Downey argued that it is unfair that a law declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court is still standing in the way of infrastructure projects he says are desperatelyDowney said Ottawa’s assertion that it will amend the act left confusion and potential roadblocks in the way of provincial infrastructure projects.
Kaitlin Power, a spokeswoman for Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault, said the federal government will provide regulatory certainty by announcing interim guidance on how it will administer the assessment law and she said the act has helped speed up – not slow down – major projects.