COURT OF APPEAL OF ALBERTA Form AP-5 [Rule 14.87] COURT OF APPEAL FILE 1903-0157-AC NUMBER: REGISTRY OFFICE: Edmonton FILED 01 Nov 2019 MIP IN THE MATTER OF THE GREENHOUSE GAS POLLUTION PRICING ACT, SC 2018, c. 12 AND IN THE MATTER OF A REFERENCE BY THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR IN COUNCIL TO THE COURT OF APPEAL OF ALBERTA UNDER THE JUDICATURE ACT, RSA 2000, c. J-2, s. 26 DOCUMENT: FACTUM REFERENCE BY THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR IN COUNCIL TO THE COURT OF APPEAL OF ALBERTA Order in Council filed the 20th day of June, 2019 FACTUM OF THE INTERVENER, THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF ONTARIO Counsel for the Attorney General of Ontario: THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF ONTARIO Constitutional Law Branch 720 Bay Street, 4th Floor Toronto, ON M7A 2S9 Josh Hunter / Aud Ranalli Tel: (416) 908-7465 / (416) 389-2604 Fax: (416) 326-4015 Email: [email protected] / [email protected] Counsel for the Attorney General of Alberta: GALL LEGGE GRANT MCLENNAN ROSS LLP DEPARTMENT OF ZWACK LLP 600, 12220 Stony Plain JUSTICE AND SOLICITOR 1199 West Hastings Street Road GENERAL Suite 1000 Edmonton, AB T5N 3Y4 10th Floor, Oxford Tower Vancouver, BC V6E 3T5 10025-102A Avenue Edmonton, AB T5J 2Z2 Peter A. Gall, QC / L. Christine Enns, QC Benjamin Oliphant Ryan Martin / Tel.: (604) 891-1152 Steven Dollansky Tel.: (780) 422-9703 Fax: (604) 669-5101 Tel.: (780) 482-9217 Email:[email protected] Email: [email protected] / Fax: (780) 482-9100 [email protected] Email: [email protected] / [email protected] Counsel for the Attorney General of Canada: ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CANADA Department of Justice Canada Prairie Regional Office 301-310 Broadway Avenue Winnipeg, MB R3C 0S6 Sharlene Telles-Langdon / Christine Mohr / Mary Matthews / Neil Goodridge / Ned Djordjevic / Beth Tait Tel.: (204) 983-0862 Fax: (204) 984-8495 Email: [email protected] Counsel for the Interveners: ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR SASKATCHEWAN 820 - 1874 Scarth St Aboriginal Law Branch Regina, SK S3P 3B3 P. Mitch McAdam, QC / Alan Jacobson / Deron Kuski, QC Tel.: (306) 787-7846 Fax: (306) 787-9111 Email: [email protected] Counsel for the Attorney General of Saskatchewan ATTORNEY GENERAL OF BRITISH COLUMBIA 1001 Douglas Street, 6th Floor PO Box 9280 Stn Prov Govt Victoria, BC V8W 9J7 J. Gareth Morley Tel.: (250) 952-7644 Fax: (250) 356-0064 Email: [email protected] Counsel for the Attorney General of British Columbia ATTORNEY GENERAL OF NEW BRUNSWICK 675 King Street, Suite 2018 P.O. Box 6000, Stn. A Fredericton, NB E3B 5H1 William Gould Tel.: (506) 453-2222 Fax: (506) 453-3275 Email: [email protected] Counsel for the Attorney General of New Brunswick ASSEMBLY OF FIRST NATIONS 55 Metcalfe Street, Suite 1600 Ottawa, ON K1P 6L5 Stuart Wuttke / Adam Williamson Tel.: (613) 241-6789 Fax: (613) 241-5808 Email: [email protected] / [email protected] Counsel for the Assembly of First Nations ECOJUSTICE ENVIRONMENTAL WOODWARD & COMPANY LAW CLINIC LAWYERS LLP 261-1 Stewart Street 1022 Government Street, Suite 200 Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5 Victoria, BC V8W 1X7 Amir Attaran Matt Hulse Tel.: (613) 562-5800 x 3382 Tel.: (250) 383-2356 Fax: (613) 562-5319 Fax: (250) 380-6560 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Counsel for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation GOWLING WLG (CANADA) LLP 1 First Canadian Place 100 King Street West, Suite 1600 Toronto, ON M5X 1G5 Jennifer L. King Tel.: (416) 862-5778 Fax: (416) 862-7661 Email: [email protected] Counsel for the Canadian Public Health Association CREASE HARMAN LLP 800-1070 Douglas Street Victoria, BC V8W 2C4 R. Bruce E. Hallsor, QC / Kevin Bellis / Dr. Charles Lugosi Tel.: (250) 388-5421 Fax: (250) 388-4294 Email: [email protected] / [email protected] / [email protected] Counsel for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation STOCKDALE LAW 416 21 Street East, Suite 207 Saskatoon, SK S7K 0C2 Jonathan Stockdale / Taylor-Anne Yee / Larry Kowalchuk Tel.: (306) 880-9889 / (306) 222-5420 Fax: (306) 931-9889 Email: [email protected] / [email protected] / [email protected] Counsel for Climate Justice et al. ECOJUSTICE ENVIRONMENTAL ECOJUSTICE LAW CLINIC 390-425 Carrall Street 216-1 Stewart Street Vancouver, BC V6B 6E3 Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5 Joshua Ginsberg Randy Christensen Tel.: (613) 562-5800 x 5225 Tel.: (604) 685-5618, x 234 Fax: (613) 562-5319 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Counsel for the David Suzuki Foundation DEMARCO ALLAN LLP 333 Bay Street, Suite 625 Toronto, ON M5H 2R2 Lisa DeMarco / Jonathan McGillivray Tel.: (647) 991-1190 / (647) 208-2677 Fax: (888) 734-9459 Email: [email protected] / [email protected] Counsel for the International Emissions Trading Association MCKERCHER LLP BARRISTERS & SOLICITORS 374 Third Avenue South Saskatoon, SK S7K 1M5 David M.A. Stack, QC Tel.: (306) 664-1277 Fax: (306) 653-2669 Email: [email protected] Counsel for SaskEnergy Incorporated and SaskPower Corporation i TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I – OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................... 1 PART II – FACTS .......................................................................................................................... 1 PART III – ARGUMENT ............................................................................................................... 1 A. The Pith and Substance of the Act is to Regulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions .............. 1 B. Regulating Greenhouse Gas Emissions is Not an Appropriate Matter to Add to the List of Enumerated Federal Powers Through the National Concern Doctrine ...................... 3 (1) The Proper Interpretation of the National Concern Test..............................................4 (i) Distinctiveness Should Mean Qualitative Distinctiveness: ........................................ 5 (ii) “Provincial Inability” Should be Limited to Provincial Jurisdictional Inability: ...... 8 (iii) The Existence of International Treaties Do Not Make a Matter One of National Concern ................................................................................................................... 9 (2) Greenhouse Gas Emissions are Not a Single, Distinct and Indivisible Matter Suitable for Federal Regulation Under the National Concern Doctrine ..................................10 (3) There is No Provincial Inability to Combat Greenhouse Gas Emissions ..................14 (4) Giving Parliament Jurisdiction Over Greenhouse Gas Emissions Would Radically Alter the Constitutional Division of Powers ..............................................................16 C. The Act Cannot Be Supported Under the Emergency Doctrine ................................... 18 D. The Act Cannot Be Supported Under the Criminal Law Power ................................... 20 E. The Act Cannot Be Supported Under the Trade and Commerce Power ...................... 23 PART IV—ORDER SOUGHT .................................................................................................... 25 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ........................................................................................................ 26 TABLE OF LEGISLATION ........................................................................................................ 30 1 PART I – OVERVIEW 1. This case is not about whether action needs to be taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or the relative effectiveness of particular policy alternatives. All parties agree that climate change is a real and pressing problem that must be addressed and that it is for governments and legislatures, not the courts, to decide how best to address that problem. Rather, this case is about whether the federal Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act (the “Act”) can be supported under the national concern doctrine or any other head of federal power. 2. The Act should not be upheld under the national concern doctrine. The regulation of greenhouse gas emissions lacks the necessary singleness, distinctiveness and indivisibility. Virtually every activity regulated by the provinces generates greenhouse gas emissions. Every provincial head of power could be impacted by granting Parliament the power to impose minimum greenhouse gas emission standards. Giving Parliament so broad a power would seriously disrupt the balance of powers set out in the Constitution. 3. Nor should the Act be upheld under any other federal head of power. It is not temporary legislation enacted by Parliament in response to an emergency. It does not meet the test for it to be valid criminal law. And it regulates the wide range of local activities that cause greenhouse gases, not trade as a whole as needed to be upheld under the general trade and commerce power. PART II – FACTS 4. Ontario accepts the facts as set out in Alberta’s factum. PART III – ARGUMENT A. The Pith and Substance of the Act is to Regulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions 5. The Ontario Court unanimously found that Canada’s proposed definition of the Act’s pith and substance as the “cumulative dimensions of greenhouse gas emissions” was “too vague and 2 confusing, since GHGs are inherently cumulative and the ‘cumulative dimensions’ are undefined.” Instead, the majority held the Act’s pith and substance was “establishing minimum national standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions” while the concurring judge held it was “establishing minimum national greenhouse gas emissions pricing standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”1 The majority in Saskatchewan held it was “the establishment of minimum national standards