Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act: Analysis and Opinion
Updated 18 May 2021
On 25 March 2021 Canada’s Supreme Court issued arguably its most crucial judgment in a decade.
The case arose from three appeals from the high courts of Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan respecting the constitutionality of the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act (GGPPA). Challenges of the GGPPA were made to the legislation by the Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan government in their various jurisdictions. In Ontario and Saskatchewan the courts of appeal sided with the federal government while the Alberta Court of Appeal ruled against the constitutionality of the GGPPA. While the jurisprudence within the case will be cited for generations, it is difficult at this stage to assess the long-term consequences on the future balance of the Canadian federation.
The winners we...