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Ratcliff lawyers successfully defend Burnaby’s right to enforce its bylaws

September 25, 2014

In what’s considered a huge win for the City of Burnaby’s legal battle to stop the Trans Mountain Expansion Project, the National Energy Board struck down the company’s application to forbid Burnaby city staff from blocking the pipeline company’s test drilling on Burnaby Mountain in a protected conservation area.

“Kinder Morgan is this arrogant company who assumed they could just go in and take direct action, based on their legal interpretation. They thumbed their nose at the law. It turns out they were wrong”, Gregory McDade, Q.C.

The NEB’s decision means Trans Mountain will not proceed with its pipeline test drilling work in a protected forest area of Burnaby Mountain, until the company properly raises the constitutional applicability of Burnaby’s by-laws before the NEB.

“Such a legal battle could have huge ripples for pipeline projects across Canada – deciding if local city governments — and not just the federal Harper government — can have a say in oil pipeline approvals”, Gregory McDade, Q.C.

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Key Contacts
Gregory J McDade KC | Aboriginal Law