(OTTAWA) June 20, 2016 - Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada (MP, Saanich-Gulf Islands), released the following statement in response to the City of Vancouver's procedural fairness challenge against the National Energy Board (NEB) in the Federal Court of Appeal:
"Today marks the beginning of what I hope will be a successful challenge to the NEB's review of the Kinder Morgan Pipeline expansion project. As an intervenor in that process, I wholeheartedly support and echo the concerns the City raised in their filing. Throughout my participation in the review, I encountered repeated instances of bald disregard for basic procedural fairness. It was therefore unsurprising that the Board decided to rubber-stamp the pipeline, and that we now see serious legal challenges to that decision.
"Having examined the form and scope of the City's filing, I am satisfied that the flaws of the NEB process that I had hoped to challenge are being adequately addressed. I will therefore not be filing a duplicative challenge, but will offer any and all assistance I can provide to the City in its fight,” Ms. May said.
"Put simply, the NEB should not be an environmental assessment agency. It has no capacity to produce fair, rigorously tested and evidence-based environmental review. Today's filing further underscores the need to reform our thoroughly broken review process. Changes made by the Harper administration led to the NEB doing environmental assessment. Only due to Bill C-38 and its enforced timelines were intervenors told there was no time for cross-examination. And only due to that complete overhaul of Canadian law did we lose the fundamental principle that the public should be encouraged to participate in environmental assessment."
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For additional information or to arrange an interview, contact:
Dan Palmer
Press Secretary | Attaché de presse
dan.palmer@greenparty.ca
m: (613) 614-4916