By Walter Neufeld. (a case for why Burnaby’s war against the NEB & Kinder Morgan is every BC citizens’ fight)
At issue: Does the NEB have the authority to override local laws established by duly elected municipal representatives (Burnaby vs Kinder Morgan/NEB & the Harper government)?
The outcome of this legal war is critical to every BC citizen. Burnaby’s laws were enacted by politicians elected by it’s local community. Those laws directly represent that community’s best interests and the health of the democracy that enables it.
Municipal politics are the closest Canadians will ever get to experiencing representative government. Kinder Morgan’s pipeline proposal is a direct attack on that the democratic rights expressed through those laws via Burnaby’s representative government. For these reasons it’s critical that those laws are protected to ensure they remain Inviolable.
“The big issue here is whether the NEB has the power to strike down municipal laws.”
“This is a really important constitutional principle with ramifications beyond this particular fight. If the NEB is going to seize the power to strike down (these) laws, then we’re all in trouble.” (Greg McDade, City of Burnaby lawyer)
There’s more. And the threat from it more dire.
The more disturbing part of this attack on local municipalities is the NEB’s claim that it can override the Canadian Constitution. We are informed that threat exists when NEB’s spokesperson Sarah Kiley makes the claim that, ‘ While the city has applied to the B.C. Supreme Court to rule on the conflict, Kiley said the board can handle constitutional questions.’
“We have the jurisdiction to rule on a constitutional issue. It says that in the NEB Act, we have that right, but generally speaking we would want to hear from both parties, and the attorney generals” (said Sarah Kiley, NEB spokesperson)
“Burnaby Now” article referenced below (” [UPDATED] NEB to rule on legal imbroglio over Burnaby Mountain, Abbotsford and Langley backing Burnaby in Oct. 8 NEB hearing”)
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*Walter Neufeld was born and raised in Abbotsford. He manages a development company operating in BC and in Alberta. Walter has been a critic of the provincial government’s dysfunctional Mines Act for about 12 years. Neufeld is the president of the Fraser Valley Regional District Citizens Association (FVRDCA). Most recently, he’s critiqued both Honourable Randy Hawes and the gravel industries Aggregate Pilot Project which he believes to be a harmful private production document .