Premier Jason Kenney slammed federal legislation in Ottawa Thursday, telling a Senate committee Bill C-69 attacks Alberta’s economy and would further strangle the energy industry.
“We are not simply here to say this bill needs amendment,” he told the Senate’s standing committee on energy, the environment and natural resources. “It is unacceptable.”
That bill, dubbed the Impact Assessment Act, would overhaul Canada’s energy regulatory process, changing the rules for project approvals and replacing the National Energy Board with a new Canadian energy regulator.
“No longer will the people of Alberta quietly accept policies such as this which constitute a direct attack on our vital economic interests,” Kenney said, flanked by Energy Minister Sonya Savage.
But Kenney also endorsed amendments to the bill submitted by Alberta under former Premier Rachel Notley, who spoke to the committee in February. He also said the province endorsed amendments from organizations including the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.
He said the amendments are necessary to prevent “an even deeper crisis in investor confidence.
“If this committee proceeds with this bill, I ask that it be substantially re-written,” he said.
Kenney argued the bill doesn’t strike a balance between environmental protection and economic development, and has “more than earned the name the ‘no more pipelines act.’”
He also reiterated a promise to launch a constitutional challenge of the bill on the basis of what projects fall under provincial jurisdiction.
When asked about the approval process for energy projects, Savage said the bill gives the federal government opportunities for “political interference.
“You just cannot reconcile that process … with an independent arm’s-length process,” she said.
