The Cold Lake First Nations community in Alberta is taking Ottawa to court over the fast-tracking of Pacific Link, The Globe and Mail and Radio-Canada reported on Thursday. Radio-Canada says it contests the national-interest designation; the Globe cites a lack of consultation. Separately, MPs were set to hold a first vote on Bill C-39, which would expand the one-project, one-review, one-year approach, the Globe reported. Earlier CTV News coverage said it moves many reviews to the Canada Energy Regulator. We did not find the vote result.
Pacific Link is the first big test of whether a shortened consultation period can survive a court. If a judge finds Ottawa failed its duty to consult, as the Federal Court of Appeal did on Trans Mountain in 2018, the fast-track model behind Bill C-39 loses its main selling point: speed.
If you work in energy, construction or Alberta and B.C. supply chains, watch the court calendar before the project schedule. For everyone else, the cost shows up later, in whether a pipeline gets built and who pays for delays.
Canada needs to approve nation-building projects faster, and a clear deadline gives investors certainty. Consultation can be real and still be time-limited.
Consultation is a legal duty, not a box to tick. A two-month window for a pipeline across Indigenous territory invites the court fights it is meant to avoid.
Do not read a lawsuit as a verdict. The things to watch are the filing itself, any request to pause the designation, and whether other nations along the route join. Until then, treat C-39's vote result and the project timetable as not yet confirmed.
The Globe and Mail · Radio-Canada (Oct. 8-9). Background: CTV News, The Logic, Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs (earlier coverage).
Cold Lake First Nations take Ottawa to court over the fast-tracked Pacific Link pipeline
The challenge arrives as MPs hold a first vote on Bill C-39, which would extend the one-project, one-review approach to more major projects.
The Cold Lake First Nations community in Alberta is taking the federal government to court over Ottawa's move to fast-track the Pacific Link pipeline, The Globe and Mail and Radio-Canada reported on Thursday. Radio-Canada says the First Nations are contesting the decision to designate the project as being in the national interest, in what its report frames as a judicial review. The Globe says the community is concerned about a lack of consultation. Neither report we read said when a court might hear the case, and no ruling exists.
Earlier coverage, including CTV News, said the designation shortens the time for the legal duty to consult affected Indigenous communities to about two months. Ottawa has said it consulted more than 140 communities along the potential route; we did not re-check that figure today. The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs has rejected the designation, and the Coldwater Indian Band said it was weighing court action. On Thursday the Globe also reported that MPs were set to hold a first vote on Bill C-39, which would expand the one-project, one-review, one-year approach and, per CTV, shift many reviews to the Canada Energy Regulator. NDP Leader Avi Lewis said Canadians did not vote for a wholesale rewriting of the review process, and labour and Indigenous leaders pushed back. The result of the vote is not yet confirmed.