As the governments of Alberta and British Columbia clash over oil and wine, federal officials are carrying a forceful message in their discussions with the two provinces.
"The key message [is] that we want to help bring the temperature down," a senior Liberal, speaking on condition of anonymity, told CBC News, "but ultimately the federal government will not allow any province to impinge on its jurisdiction over the national interest. Full stop."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and B.C. Premier John Horgan last week and discussions between federal officials and their provincial counterparts continued through the weekend. Deputy ministers and senior Privy Council Office officials will also be meeting with officials from both provincial governments.
"The appropriate departments are working with both provinces to find solutions," Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi, who represents an Edmonton riding, told reporters on Wednesday.
What might solve this stand-off remains to be seen, Trudeau has already said that building the Trans Mountain pipeline is in the national interest.
"We have a federal government to look out for the national interest above various disagreements within the provinces and we did exactly that on the Trans Mountain pipeline," he said in an interview last week with CBC Radio's Edmonton AM.
"We're just going to reiterate that the decision we made was in the national interest and we're going to move forward with that decision, which means we're going to get the Trans Mountain pipeline built."
Scheer says Trudeau needs to act on pipeline1:21
The current escalation of tensions between the NDP premiers of Alberta and B.C. began when Horgan's government announced that it would restrict shipments of diluted bitumen — the "dillbit" oil that would be transported from Alberta via the Trans Mountain pipeline — until an independent advisory panel could study the possible impacts of a spill.
With the pipeline already approved by federal regulators, Alberta's Notley accused Horgan of "grasping at straws" in an attempt to obstruct the project. She responded first by suspending negotiations to purchase hydro power from British Columbia. Then, on Tuesday, Notley went further, announcing that her government would block the import of B.C. wines into Alberta.
Eric Adams, a law professor at the University of Alberta, says a move by B.C. to restrict the shipment of diluted bitumen could be found by a court to be unconstitutional.
Though the B.C. government has the right to enact environmental regulations within its provincial jurisdiction, a court would be able to consider whether the restriction was intended to obstruct a federal project. A court could also find that the Trans Mountain pipeline, as an inter-provincial project under federal jurisdiction, can be excluded from provincial law.
For now though, the federal Liberals are not looking to refer the matter to the courts. The Trudeau government believes that, in the absence of a draft regulation from the B.C. government, a judicial reference would be unlikely to produce a clear ruling.
But Adams also believes that Alberta's ban on B.C. wine could be an unconstitutional limit on the "free flow of trade" between provinces.
"We have been a strong advocate for freer trade across Canada in all goods, including alcohol," Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains said in a statement on Thursday. "We urge governments to avoid taking steps that diminish trade and call on parties to work quickly to resolve this issue."
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