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But there are the six motions he allowed, of course. And this is where things start to become awkward for the prime minister.

Every party will benefit from this, with the exception of the incumbent

Stratas allowed the motions on the narrow grounds that it is arguable that mandated requirements for Indigenous consultation still have not been met. Stratas grants that there was additional consultation, notes that Indigenous groups deemed it insufficient, and, critically, notes further that the federal government took no position at all. While Indigenous and First Nations groups filed objections to the new consultation process “consisting of many thousands of detailed pages,” the federal government, “including the Attorney General of Canada representing the Government of Canada, took no position for or against” the motions. “The respondents did state that if leave were granted and applications for judicial review were brought they would support the Governor in Council’s decision and oppose the applicants,” Stratas said. “But on the leave motions they offered no submissions or evidence to assist the Court.”

I’m no lawyer. But it’s hard to read that as anything else than Stratas saying, in an adversarial system, when one side doesn’t show up, the other gets to have their say.

So there will be reviews. Stratas has ordered that they be narrowly focused on the specific issue of whether the new consultations were sufficient, and wants the review completed “very quickly,” citing “substantial public interest” in a rapid conclusion. “Very quickly,” of course, is obviously relative — we’re talking about Canadian courts here. But it’s conceivable that the reviews could be wrapped up in a matter of months. Before the end of the year, perhaps.