EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says he is "very pleased" with the Supreme Court of Canada's unanimous dimissal of British Columbia's appeal of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
"We are very pleased with this outcome and look forward to construction continuing on the Trans Mountain Pipeline," the premier tweeted.
Opposition leader Rachel Notley seemed unsurprised at the outcome for what she called "an unconstitutional attempt to delay TMX."
"It ends one of many fights we took on in government to ensure the pipeline will be built and will deliver Alberta energy to global markets," she tweeted.
Alberta Minister of Justice Doug Schweitzer said it was the decision the province expected.
"British Columbia’s own top court was clear that the proposed law is ‘an… existential threat' to a federal undertaking that is being expanded specifically to increase the amount of oil transported through British Columbia," he wrote in a statement.
B.C. was asking Canada’s top court to find that it had jurisdiction over what flows through the pipeline expansion project from Alberta, but the Supreme Court has found that control over the contents of the natural energy project is fully federal jurisdiction.
If B.C. had been successful they could have been in a position to block heavy oil from moving through the pipeline, throwing into jeopardy the multi-billion dollar project and expansion that the federal government bought from Kinder Morgan in 2018.
The federal government has argued that letting B.C. have authority over what can travel through the pipeline on account for its right to protect its environment, would essentially give the province a veto over cross-province projects.
