The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is celebrating the Alberta Court of Appeal’s decision that the federal government’s Impact Assessment Act is unconstitutional. The CTF was an official intervener in the court case against the legislation.

“Today’s court decision against Ottawa’s No More Pipelines Law is a big win for taxpayers,” said Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director of the CTF. “We need to be able to develop Canadian resources to create jobs and get our neighbours back to work, and we also need these projects to help us pay for hospitals, schools and lower taxes.”

The CTF’s lawyer argued that the law blurs federal and provincial accountability for resource development and creates duplication within federal and provincial bureaucracies. 

The CTF calculated that the pipeline deficit could cost taxpayers across the country $12.8 billion between 2013 and 2023 by reducing the federal government’s revenue. That means a lack of pipelines could cost each province and territory at least one new hospital between 2013 and 2023.

“Resource projects help pay the bills and when they aren’t able to generate that revenue, politicians start looking to families to fill the budget gap,” said Terrazzano. “Taxpayers are being dragged further into debt because politicians are roadblocking Canadian resource projects and this court ruling makes it clear those legal obstructions are unconstitutional.