Liberals' "No More Pipelines Act" unconstitutional

The Trudeau government's Impact Assessment Act, dubbed the "No More Pipelines Act" by its critics, unconstitutionally exceeds the limits of federal jurisdiction, Canada's Supreme Court has ruled. 

Supreme Court rules environmental impact legislation largely unconstitutional | CBC News | Joel Dryden:

October 13, 2023 - "Canada's top court has delivered a highly anticipated judgment, writing in a majority opinion that Ottawa's Impact Assessment Act (IAA) is largely unconstitutional. The IAA, previously known as Bill C-69, allows federal regulators to consider the potential environmental and social impacts of various resource and infrastructure projects. It was enacted in 2019. The IAA has long been controversial among conservative politicians in Alberta, including former premier Jason Kenney, who frequently referred to it as the "no more pipelines act." 

"The ruling was part of a 'reference case,' which involves the provincial and federal governments asking courts for advisory opinions. It doesn't mean the law is now off the books — a ruling such as this from the Supreme Court of Canada is not necessarily binding, but is traditionally treated as being binding by governments, noted David Wright, an associate professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Calgary. 'I think what we can expect is the federal government is going to get to work very quickly to put together a suite of amendments to bring the act into conformity with the law,' Wright said.

"Writing for the majority in a 5-2 decision, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada Richard Wagner said the process set forth in Sections 81 to 91 of the IAA were constitutional and could be separated out. Those sections involve projects carried out or financed by federal authorities on federal lands, or outside Canada, and therefore fall under federal jurisdiction. Those provisions were not challenged as unconstitutional. 

"However, Wagner wrote that the balance of the scheme, involving 'designated projects,' was unconstitutional. Under the IAA, designated projects are those projects that are set out in the regulations or are subject to a ministerial order. 'In my view, Parliament has plainly overstepped its constitutional competence in enacting this designated projects scheme,' Wagner wrote.

"Wagner wrote that environmental protection remains one of today's most pressing challenges, and Parliament has the power to enact a scheme of environmental assessment to meet this challenge. 'But Parliament also has the duty to act within the enduring division of powers framework laid out in the Constitution,' he wrote. 

"Dissenting Justices Andromache Karakatsanis and Mahmud Jamal wrote that they believed the act was constitutional in its entirety.... 

"Alberta previously filed a constitutional challenge with the Alberta Court of Appeal, and was supported by the governments of Saskatchewan and Ontario, three First Nations and the Indian Resource Council. Various environmental and legal groups, as well as other First Nations, supported Ottawa. In a 4-1 decision, the court called the law an 'existential threat' when it came to Canada's Constitution. The federal government appealed that non-binding opinion, and the Supreme Court held hearings on the act in March."

"Today's decision was keenly awaited by legal experts, who recognized its importance in providing clarity to an area of law that has long been under debate. Wright, the associate professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Calgary, said it wasn't the outcome most of those who follow this area of law expected. 'This really does set the the legal landscape for federal impact assessment for decades to come,' said Wright, who was also an intervener on the case. 'What we now know is that there are significant constraints on what the federal government may or may not do with respect to legislating in relation to environmental assessment.'

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/supreme-court-richard-wagner-impact-assessment-act-1.6993720

Top court finds Ottawa's environmental impact assessment law unconstitutional | CBC News | October 13, 2023:

Hersh: US blew up Nord Stream pipelines

American journalist accuses US Navy of Nord Stream pipeline attack | RFI - Michael Fitzpatrick:

February 11, 2023 - "Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh alleges that US Navy divers laid the bombs that destroyed the Nord Stream pipeline under the Baltic Sea last September, cutting Russian gas supplies to Europe. The Pentagon has denied the claim but Moscow, which Western countries suspect of involvement, says it should be taken seriously.

"According to a blog written by Hersh on the site Substack, American navy divers planted remotely triggered explosives that wrecked three of the four pipelines built to carry natural gas from Russia to Europe. Hersh claims that the US Navy planted the explosives under the cover of a Nato maritime exercise, Baltic Operation 22, known as BaltOps, which involved vessels from 14 Nato member states and took place in the Baltic between 5 and 17 June 2022....

"Hersh puts the motivation for the attack down to a simple political calculation. 'With Russian troops massing on the Ukrainian border and the bloodiest war in Europe since 1945 looming,' he writes, 'President Joseph Biden saw the pipelines as a vehicle for Vladimir Putin to weaponise natural gas for his political and territorial ambitions'.... Putin would now have an additional and much-needed major source of income, and Germany and the rest of Western Europe would become addicted to low-cost natural gas supplied by Russia – while diminishing European reliance on America."

"The September 2022 explosions were blamed by Western countries on Russia, adding to the anger against Moscow in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. Investigations by Swedish, Danish and German authorities have not pinned the blame on any one country or actor. Swedish investigators have already said they believe the blasts were the result of 'gross sabotage'. 

"Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, US President Joe Biden warned that the Nord Stream 2 project connecting Russia and Germany would not move forward if an attack took place. This led some commentators to suspect US involvement when the pipelines were destroyed seven months later. 'If Russia invades – that means tanks or troops crossing the border of Ukraine, again – then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2,' Biden said on 7 February 2022. 'We will bring an end to it.'

"Pentagon spokesman Marine Corps Lt. Col. Garron J. Garn says 'the United States was not involved in the Nord Stream explosion'. 'This is utterly false and complete fiction,' stated Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council.... 

"Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says Hersh's work is a 'very serious' article that offered 'deep analysis'. 'It would be unfair not to give it attention,' he said.... Peskov added that Moscow had information "on the involvement of the Anglo-Saxons in the organisation of this act of sabotage', a claim Russia has made repeatedly but without providing any evidence publicly."

Read more: https://www.rfi.fr/en/international/20230211-american-journalist-accuses-us-navy-of-nord-stream-pipeline-attack

Associated Press covers Cliff Hyra campaign

Libertarian candidate a longshot who could alter race | National politics | stltoday.com - Alan Suderman, Associated Press:

October 4, 2017 - "Cliff Hyra, the long-shot Libertarian candidate in this year's closely watched race for Virginia governor, ... an intellectual property attorney and 35-year-old father of four, is polling at just a few percentage points in most polls. That's not enough to have a chance to win, but it could be enough to alter what's likely to be a close contest between Republican Ed Gillespie and Democrat Ralph Northam.

"It's unclear who may benefit, and some supporters of both Gillespie and Northam have expressed concern that Hyra could pull critical votes away from their preferred candidate. Adding to the stakes is the fact that Virginia is one of only two states electing new governors this year, and the swing state's contest is getting national attention as a possible early referendum on President Donald Trump.

"But Hyra said he's running to 'move the policy debate' and is not worried about potential side effects.

"'I'm not Republican, I'm not a Democrat, I really don't care if I spoil the election for one or the other,' said Hyra, who has been shut out of the candidate debates and has little money to get his message out. 'If we can build momentum for some of the places where I think Virginia needs to improve ... that's a major reason I'm in the race.'

"Hyra's campaign platform is heavy on protecting personal freedoms and limiting government power. It includes calling for a severe curtailment of the state's numerous food and beverage laws, legalizing marijuana and protecting individual property rights. He said his emphasis on criminal justice reform has already partially paid off by the emphasis both Gillespie and Northam are giving to the issue.

"He said he's gained support from Republican voters turned off by Trump, but is also drawing close looks from environmentalists and landowners who are unhappy with Northam for not opposing two proposed natural gas pipelines. Hyra is the only candidate opposing the pipelines, saying property rights should outweigh a private company's ability to seize land for profit.

"Libertarian campaigns are not new in Virginia. Libertarian Robert Sarvis may have played a pivotal role in the 2013 gubernatorial contest when he won 7 percent, including a high number of independent voters. That campaign was marked by a lack of voter enthusiasm for Democrat Terry McAuliffe, the winner, and Republican Ken Cuccinelli. Support for Sarvis was much lower a year later, though, when he only won 2 percent in a U.S. Senate race where Gillespie narrowly lost to Mark Warner."

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/govt-and-politics/libertarian-candidate-a-longshot-who-could-alter-race/article_52271a2c-e8e9-5b1b-8fce-0bd3c51917e2.html
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It's illegal to protest on your own property, Pennsylvania pipeline opponents told

Huntingdon County judge grants Sunoco authority to have protesting landowners arrested | StateImpact Pennsylvania - Susan Phillips:

April 28, 2017 - "Huntingdon County residents protesting the construction of Sunoco’s Mariner East 2 pipeline across their land now face arrest on their own property due to a rarely imposed court order known as a 'writ of possession.' Common Pleas Court judge George Zanic signed the order last week, which Sunoco had sought as an 'emergency measure' in response to the landowners tree-sitting on their property. Ellen and Stephen Gerhart in Huntingdon, Pa., along with their daughter Elyse, have become outspoken critics of the pipeline and the use of eminent domain by the company to take possession of land along the 350 mile route.

"Charges against Ellen Gerhart were dropped after she was arrested last year for trespass on her own property. But with this new writ, Sunoco can enlist law enforcement to arrest anyone within the easement, including the actual property owners....

"Gerhart says the tree-sitting began in early February, after Sunoco secured the permits from the Department of Environmental Protection to begin construction. She would not say how many people were participating in the protest, but said she herself had been up in the trees. Although the Gerharts’ challenge to the eminent domain takings are making their way through the appeals courts, the company can begin building. Recent efforts to seek a stay in construction failed.

"'We’re seriously looking at going to jail,' said Elyse Gerhart. 'I’m not the type of person who lets injustice go unchallenged, and neither is my mother. What we’re doing makes [Sunoco] show their true face.'

"Sunoco’s parent company, Energy Transfer Partners, is the same company that battled with Native American protesters over the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota, where a private security company used pepper spray and dogs on protestors....

"The Gerharts have refused to voluntarily grant an easement on their property, which includes a 50 foot wide right-of-way along with an additional 25 foot staging area. The Gerharts live on 27 acres of woods and wetlands in Huntingdon County."

Read more: https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2017/04/28/huntingdon-county-judge-grants-sunoco-authority-to-have-protesting-landowners-arrested/
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Kootenay Libertarian Christina Yahn interviewed

Libertarian Party candidate will run in Kootenay Columbia - Nelson Star - Bill Metcalfe:

August 17, 2015 - "Kootenay Columbia has a fifth candidate in the upcoming federal election­ — Christina Yahn of the Libertarian Party.

"Yahn has been a resident of Nelson and the Slocan Valley for 12 years and her main activity has been as an apiarist and a developer of new ways of beekeeping. She runs the Queens Bees Project as well as a small business that develops and sells bee-related body products and candles.

The Libertarian Party, under its leader Tim Moen of Calgary, is running 85 candidates across the country. Its policies promote private property rights, the free market, individual liberty, and the withdrawal of government from many spheres of public life.

The following is an edited and condensed version of the Star’s interview with Christina Yahn last week.

Why did you decide to run?

"The main reason is my involvement in farming and small diversified agriculture, and over the last 14 years, time and time again politics comes into play, and so my interest in politics is driven by that, to the point where I feel like stepping up. I don’t feel the representation is there for that arena.

"I would like to localize the food security issue. A lot of current regulations stifle our farmers and stop them from bringing food to market at a competitive price or at all. The bureaucracy around having chickens and bees in the city is absurd and it is a basic right to feed yourself and your family including to pollinate your crops. We need community gardens, community greenhouses, and we would be more than willing to work with city councils to make a realistic plan about this....

"Bees are the foundation of our food security, so I have been doing advocacy work speaking on behalf of bees and the dire state of food security with the decline in pollinators. In the Kootenays we import about 85 per cent of our food, mostly from California, which is on fire and under drought, so my work with bees spans out to the entire food system.

Why the Libertarian Party?

"The Libertarian Party speaks for me because it is the only one that refuses to use aggression to enforce its own ideology. In this election there is the 'anyone but Harper' movement, and I can relate in certain aspects, but in the long run, all the other parties use an authoritarian mandate to put their agenda in place. The Libertarian Party puts individual freedoms first.

"Both the Greens and the NDP have aspects that are appealing, especially the Green Party, but they also have a lot of policies that would impinge on personal freedom and rights, and the NDP has a lot of policies that infringe on personal choices as to what you would put into your own body and so on.

What other issues interest you?

"Foreign policy has become a passion of mine. We used to be known as a peaceful nation and we do not have that reputation any more. I want us to pursue a more non-interventionist policy....

"We would end the treaties that were put in place [with First Nations people] hundreds of years ago but do not reflect current realities. Often they were signed under duress. Some groups would like to become sovereign, and so we would end those treaties and those obligations. If they were to become sovereign nations they could protect their private property rights on their territories. There would be negotiations on what the boundaries would be, and it would end all the controversies about pipelines and mining projects. It would immediately give the power back to the First Nations to have proper consultation so they can protect their lands.

"Also community forest management — Harrop Procter is an example of how successful this would be. We are seeing our forests being leased out to foreign companies without accountability. It is not land they own or are held accountable for. We would like to see localized forest management in our area managed by the people affected.

"With drug policies, we should not be locking people away for non-violent crimes. Drug abuse is a public health issue, not a criminal issue."

Read more: http://www.nelsonstar.com/news/322077531.html
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