It was a case “destined” to make its way to Canada’s top court. Now, that may not be the case at all.
The City of Burnaby may not end up appealing a B.C. Supreme Court ruling around city bylaws that found in favour of Kinder Morgan and its Trans Mountain Pipeline project.
While Mayor Derek Corrigan said the city has prepared the necessary documents to maintain the appeal, he said the municipality will be watching closely a couple of cases expected to head to the Supreme Court of Canada later this year.
Burnaby’s case challenged whether federal jurisdiction for major projects, like pipelines, can overrule city laws.
The mayor said if there’s an indication the Supreme Court will interfere in federal powers when it comes to local governments, he said the city may advance its case to the B.C. Court of Appeal.
But if not, Corrigan said: “Then we’re in a situation where we’re not going to throw good money after bad. If I think there’s a chance we can be successful and advance the cause, I’ll go there. If not, I’ll move to the political means we’ve got.”
He said he still hopes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won’t approve the project, even if the National Energy Board does, suggesting he would face an “insurrection” within the Liberal Party and lose support in cities like Burnaby.
In the decision released in late November, a judge determined the National Energy Board was right by previously overruling Burnaby’s bylaw, which forbade the company from cutting trees while doing survey work in the Burnaby Mountain conservation area.
At the time, Corrigan said the fight against Kinder Morgan and the Trans Mountain Pipeline was destined to go all the way to Canada’s top court.
His tone was different when discussing the case with the NOW recently. Specifically, he said Burnaby is watching a City of Windsor case he described as being about a federally incorporated transportation carrier that refused to cooperate with the Ontario city’s bylaws. That case is expected to be before the Supreme Court before the end of the year.
“I don’t know if we’ll proceed to complete our hearing in the Court of Appeal if we don’t think it’s going to be successful or we have a reasonable chance of success,” he said.
