Alberta taking legal action over revised impact assessment law [Video]

EDMONTON –

Alberta is taking the federal government to court, saying Ottawa has failed to follow through on what Premier Danielle Smith calls necessary changes to a law governing resource development.

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The federal Impact Assessment Act, enacted in 2019, determines whether certain major resource projects should be approved based on the environmental, economic or social impact each project might have.

Smith said Thursday the province has asked the Alberta Court of Appeal to rule on the constitutionality of the act, which was amended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government earlier this year. 

Those amendments came after the Supreme Court ruled last year that the broad authority it grants to the federal government needed to be scaled back, especially the authority to regulate projects that fall under provincial jurisdiction.

Smith’s announcement comes nearly two months after she issued …