The government of Jason Kenney – Mr. Kenney seen here on Dec. 9, 2019 – said it applied for the stay so it can prepare an appeal of Justice Romaine’s decision.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
The Alberta government is seeking a stay of a judge’s decision ordering Premier Jason Kenney’s cabinet to decide by Friday whether a long-delayed oil sands project proposed by Prosper Petroleum Ltd. can go ahead.
Last week, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Barbara Romaine ruled that the 20 months that the company has waited without knowing if it can can proceed with the northern Alberta project is unfair and abusive. She directed the government to issue a decision within 10 days.
The ruling came as Mr. Kenney pushed publicly for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal Liberals to approve Teck Resources Ltd.’s much larger Frontier oil sands development, warning that not doing so would threaten national unity. Teck withdrew its application on Sunday, before the federal cabinet made its decision.
Alberta said it applied for the stay so it can prepare an appeal of Justice Romaine’s decision. Its lawyers had argued that the provincial cabinet is immune from such court-ordered direction and that it has broad discretion to act in what it sees as the public interest.
Prosper’s proposed 10,000-barrel-a-day Rigel project received a green light from the Alberta Energy Regulator in June, 2018. Provincial cabinet approval is the last step before the project can proceed. The company has said it faces financial hardship owing to the unusual delay and may not survive.
Without the stay, the government argues in its application, it will suffer “irreparable harm” and its appeal would essentially be moot because the government would have had to make the decision on the project.
“If the stay is not granted, Alberta loses any value from its appeal; further, the public interest of allowing cabinet itself to prioritize the making of policy decisions and in taking the time it needs to make such decisions is impaired,” the government said.
The case goes before an appeals judge on Wednesday. The government did not give a timeline for its appeal, only that it would proceed with it “on an expedited basis.”
Alberta has not given specifics as to why it has taken so long with its deliberations, citing cabinet confidentiality.
However, part of the proposed project sits on land near Moose Lake, 65 kilometres northwest of Fort McMurray, that the Fort McKay First Nation wants set aside for traditional use.
The proposed buffer zone is part of an access management plan that also requires provincial approval. At the end of January, the government and the First Nation announced they would negotiate the final draft of the plan over the following three months.
The First Nation said it was “deeply disappointed” by last week’s ruling, but said it supported Alberta’a plan to appeal as it “signals to our members this government is serious about achieving a negotiated solution that acknowledges the importance of Moose Lake to Fort McKay.”
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