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VICTORIA — The B.C. NDP government joined the court challenge to twinning Trans Mountain pipeline Friday, via a last-minute filing that accused Ottawa of failing to weigh the risk of oil spills on the B.C. coast.

The Justin Trudeau government’s approval of the controversial project should therefore be set aside, B.C. argued in submission deposited with the Federal Court of appeal just before the filing deadline.

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The narrow-focus brief was a far cry from the wide-ranging application the New Democrats filed last month in seeking intervener status to the complex challenge brought by 31 parties including First Nations, environmentalists and other governments.

B.C.’s earlier submission drew a stinging rebuke from Justice David Stratas of the Federal Court of appeal who described it as “unsatisfactory,” in a number of aspects.

“British Columbia does not appear to understand the basic ground rules of the complex proceeding it is seeking to enter,” he wrote in faulting the New Democrats for filing late and for airing legal and constitutional issues that were irrelevant to the matter before the court.