Huge! Canada's Constitution Could Change Forever!

[Economy 52,861]

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/globalnews.ca/news/4185868/commentary-this-pipeline-case-could-drastically-alter-canada/amp/

 

As some may have been aware, Canada has been in a huge political disarray over a pipeline the Federal Government approved and the Province of British Columbia fiercely opposes and has so far succeeded in blocking it's construction for years with delay tactics and witholding construction permits.

 

It has gone as far as the Province of Alberta placing import bans on British Columbia and Threating to cut off their Oil and Gas supply to get them to stand down. The Province of Saskatchewan has vowed to join Alberta to Pressure BC. While both Illegal, the current climate is that there is hostility against Federal Government when intervening on Provincial Decisions and as such Trudeau has not interfered in the Civil Trade War or tried to stop it.

 

The reason this is so significant is that given that it's not the first time British Columbia successfully blocked a federally approved project, and for years Provinces have butt heads with the Government over who has power to decide what, there has been a big debate over the Nation's Constitution and the current dysfunction and which level of Government has authority over what.

 

The High Court is due to rule on the case. If they decide BC has the right to block the project on its land that the Federal Government approved, the new interpretation of the law would remove Federal Powers over interprovincial projects (when a project involves more than 1 Province)which at this time the Government insists it has.

 

At this time the general consensus is that Provinces only control laws and a project when a project is confined to their own borders. If this changes, Provinces will be allowed to restrict whatever products they wish, making trade within the Nation even more difficult than it currently is as laws already vary a lot by Province. The Federal Government would also not be able to decide on National Projects alone without the Provinces consent.

[Economy 52,861]

Keep in mind y'all, this is what COULD happen doesn't mean it will

[Florian 20,017]

So the high court can change the constitution without the approval of the provinces or of the Canadians ?

It doesn't sound very democratic to me

[Economy 52,861]

18 minutes ago, Florian said:

So the high court can change the constitution without the approval of the provinces or of the Canadians ?

It doesn't sound very democratic to me

Its not so much change exactly as it is make a definite interpretation

 

Canada is not a Centralized Country at all. 30% to 40% of taxes are Provincial, most labor laws are Provincial, road laws, minimum wage (some Provinces were even going to join Quebec in making their own retirement system including my Province Ontario) and Provinces have a lot of power, and different situations have exceptions and as a result there's a lot of grey areas

 

These grey areas for a long time has led to fewds between the Federal Government and Provinces over who had the authority to do what in some circumstances

 

The court won't change the written law itself that's already written but it will make an interpretation of under current law, if Provinces can withold permits of Federally approved projects or restrict another Provinces goods if it has environmental concerns among other possible "legitimate" reasons

 

Most Layers think the Federal Government will win this case but there's some doubt

 

Honestly I hope they do because this has gone way beyond the pipeline. It has become super difficult to get National projects done in this Country because each region wants to have their own say and when they don't agree with the Federal Government they find a way to block it somehow

 

A lot of CEOs bluntly told Trudeau last week that this Country has become bad to invest in on National Projects because the current uncertainty of who's really in charge is causing dysfunction in the system and unnecessary delays.

 

Stuff that in other Nations takes 1-2 years to get approved and built gets debated and taken to court for like 10 years. That's not an exaggeration btw