The continuing legal battle is part of the fallout over the TransMountain pipeline expansion

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – British Columbia has won a temporary injunction in the fight against Alberta’s ‘Turn Off the Taps’ legislation, which would allow that province to limit oil shipments to the coast.

The Federal Court of Appeal suspended the bill Tuesday. In the decision, Justice Sebastien Grammond said the province showed that the bill would cause “irreparable harm to the residents of British Columbia” and the court rejected Alberta’s argument that harm is speculative.

He says B.C. has met the test for blocking the law until the courts can decide its validity.

“The trial will continue at a future date to hear evidence and submissions on the merits of the action,” the decision reads.

The Court granted British Columbia’s motion for an interlocutory injunction in an action challenging the constitutionality of Alberta’s recently enacted Preserving Canada’s Economic Prosperity Act. https://t.co/ohZFwqttEz — Federal Court Canada (@FedCourt_CAN_en) September 24, 2019

The continuing legal battle is part of the fallout over the TransMountain pipeline expansion.

In response to B.C.’s legal measures against the pipeline, Alberta passed the legislation that would allow it to shut off oil shipments.

B.C. asked an Alberta court to both declare the law unconstitutional and grant an injunction preventing its implementation in July. That attempt to block the legislation was denied.

The TransMountain expansion, first approved in 2016, would triple the amount of oil flowing from the oilsands to B.C.’s Lower Mainland and from there to lucrative new markets across the Pacific.

The federal government bought the existing pipeline last year for $4.5 billion after its original builder, Texas-based Kinder Morgan, threatened to walk away from the project because of B.C.’s resistance.

BC Attorney General David Eby reacts to word federal court has suspended Alberta’s turn off the taps legislation: #bcpoli pic.twitter.com/TPiCxI22X6 — Martin MacMahon (@martinmacmahon) September 24, 2019

B.C. Attorney General David Eby says the court case is still ongoing, but Tuesday’s decision is a step in the right direction.

“We are glad that there is a court now where this application will be heard,” he said at a media availability just after the decision was released. “It’s important that matters of dispute between provinces have a place where an independent decision maker can make that decision.”

The injunction does not provide a definitive answer on whether Alberta has the power to cut off the supply of oil to neighbouring provinces, but it means there’s no imminent threat of that happening.

“Certainly having the injunction in place provides some relief to British Columbians, who may have been concerned about an impact on fuel prices of the restrictions from Alberta,” Eby said.

With files from the Canadian Press