Kenney Calls for Energy Industry Support in Alberta’s Challenge of Federal Impact Assessment Law

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney answers questions during a press conference as premiers meet on the final day of the summer meeting of the Canada's Premiers at the Fairmont Empress in Victoria, B.C., on July 12, 2022. The Canadian Press/Chad Hipolito

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has called on his province’s energy industry to intervene in the provincial government’s court challenge of the federal Impact Assessment Act (IAA).

The IAA, or Bill C-69, which received royal assent in 2019 and which Kenney dubbed the “no more pipelines” bill, allows the federal government to consider the impacts of new resource projects and prohibit certain projects from being carried out if that act is believed to cause environmental changes.

The act allows Ottawa to assess the environmental impacts of intra-provincial pipelines and other energy development projects such that the federal government essentially has veto power.