On March 25, the Supreme Court of Canada released its much anticipated decision on the constitutionality of federal legislation which implements minimum national standards for carbon pricing in Canada.
Provincial appellate courts had been divided on the issue of whether the legislation was within the federal government’s constitutional authority. The Ontario and Saskatchewan Courts of Appeal had found it to be constitutional, while the Alberta Court of Appeal had ruled that it was not.
Writing for a majority of six judges, the Chief Justice of Canada acknowledged that climate change presents a “grave threat to humanity’s future”, and that the only way to fight it was to reduce GHG emissions, which experts agree can be achieved through a price on carbon. In its ruling, the Court also emphasized the disproportionate and irreversible impacts of climate change on the Arctic, the coastlines, and Indigenous peoples.
In the result, the majority upheld the federal legislation under the national concern doctrine, finding that its focus was on addressing the “well-established risk of grave extra-provincial harm”, and that it had a limited impact on provincial jurisdiction.
David Wu of Arvay Finlay represented Oceans North Conservation Society in its intervention at the Supreme Court of Canada.
The reasons are indexed as Reference re Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, 2021 SCC 11.