B.C. files second legal challenge against Alberta over turn-off-taps law

VANCOUVER – The British Columbia government has filed a second lawsuit against Alberta over its turn-off-the-taps legislation.

A statement of claim filed in Federal Court on June 14 is similar to a document filed last month in Alberta’s Court of Queen’s Bench that alleges Alberta introduced the bill to inflict economic pain on B.C. by limiting the supply of petroleum products to the province.

The claim says Alberta’s attorney general brought an application to have the action dismissed in the Court of Queen’s Bench on the grounds that B.C. has no standing to challenge laws created in the Alberta legislature and that the legal action is premature.

The B.C. government says it believes the case can be heard in Alberta but if it is found not to have standing there, it wants the Federal Court to declare Alberta’s Preserving Canada’s Economic Prosperity Act unconstitutional.

Alberta’s former NDP government passed the bill but it wasn’t proclaimed into law until after the United Conservative Party was elected earlier this year.