Bronwyn Eyre's prior time as energy minister considered a plus in fighting impact assessment law
Taking on Ottawa in what she feels is an encroachment on provincial jurisdiction is just one of the issues that Bronwyn Eyre, Saskatchewan's first female justice minister and attorney general, is gearing up for over the next few months.
"We have grave concerns about federal jurisdictional overreach," Eyre says, noting that some enacted federal legislation has hurt the province.
Specifically, she points to legislation passed in 2019 that allows Ottawa to consider the effects of new resource and construction projects – like pipelines – on various environmental and social issues, including climate change.
Eyre was Saskatchewan's energy and resources minister until she was appointed justice minister and AG in a cabinet shuffle at the end of May. She has described the Impact Assessment Act (previously Bill C-69) as a "wrecking ball" on Saskatchewan's ability to explore and develop its energy resources and grow its economy.
In May, the Alberta Court of Appeal gave an opinion on the matter, with a 4-1 majority calling it an "existential threat" to each province's right to control its resources.
After the Alberta decision, the Liberal federal government quickly announced that it plans to take the court's non-binding opinion to the Supreme Court of Canada. Recently, the Office of the Attorney General of Canada completed its notice of appeal, and filing deadlines are set. However, a date for hearing arguments has not yet been scheduled.
Eyre has called the legislation a "wrecking ball" on a province's right to explore and develop its energy resources. Saskatchewan, along with Ontario, were intervenors in the case. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe indicated when announcing the recent cabinet shuffle that the province would likely participate in an SCC appeal.
The Alberta Court of Appeal heard from 17 interveners before siding with the province. In its 204-page legal opinion, four of the five Alberta appeal court judges on the panel called the IAA a "breathtaking pre-emption of provincial authority."
All five judges agreed climate change is a threat that must be addressed, but the majority said that environmental concerns do not trump the division of power.
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sheila Greckol wrote that the urgency of the climate crisis calls for cooperative protection of environmental regimes across jurisdictions. Greckol noted while provinces have jurisdiction over their natural resources, projects related to those resources aren't immune to a federal assessment.
Eyre describes the majority Alberta appeal court opinion as "a very strongly worded decision in favour of the provinces' position for upholding constitutional integrity when it comes to natural resources – and we will continue to challenge such federal intervention in provincial jurisdiction."
She notes that the impact assessment law makes it "very, very challenging" to build a significant oil and gas project in Canada. Eyre says this inability to get oil to market through pipelines is "anti-competitive and unconstitutional, hurting a landlocked but energy-rich province like Saskatchewan."
Eyre, who likens legislation such as the IAA to "economic punishment" for Saskatchewan, adds that Canada's provinces "could learn something" from Quebec's regular assertions of its constitutional rights on matters of jurisdiction, even when ideologically it is on board with the federal government.
"As provinces, we must always remain staunchly protectionist when it comes to our constitutional jurisdiction."
However, the SCC's opinion on the matter will be the final authority in this area of law. Last year, in a 6-3 decision, that court upheld the Liberals' carbon tax regime on provinces as constitutional. The majority wrote that the climate change threat necessitates a coordinated national approach, which some say indicates what the SCC might decide in the impact assessment case.
Regardless, Eyre, who says "she loves the law and all it stands for," is prepared to go into legal battle.
A native of Saskatoon, Eyre studied ballet with the National Ballet School and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet but ultimately followed an academic and journalistic path. She went to McGill University for her undergraduate degree and later studied law at the University of Saskatchewan in 1996.
Fluent in French, German and Italian, Eyre worked as a journalist for legal publications in Europe but returned to Saskatoon in 2006. She then worked as a university lecturer and journalist, writing columns, and appearing on radio broadcasts.
She started her political career as a school board trustee in Saskatoon. When the area she lived in became part of a new provincial constituency, she decided to run for MLA in 2016.
"I grew up in a very political family, the kind where you have to argue your position around the dinner table," Eyre says. “I decided I should be part of the solution rather than commenting as a journalist."
She was a cabinet minister in the government of Brad Wall, in portfolios such as education and status of women. She was later named energy and resources minister after Scott Moe took over as premier in 2018.
"So, from February 2018 until just a few weeks ago, I was energy minister, the longest ministry I was involved in," Eyre says. "It was a turbulent and interesting time in the energy sector during that period."
Soon after naming Eyre justice minister, Premier Moe said that if Saskatchewan plans to defend its constitutional interests, Eyre "certainly has the experience that we will need to ensure that we are defending that opportunity, legally, if necessary."
