The Financial Post reports in its Tuesday, July 26, edition that the recent Federal Court of Appeal decision to quash approval for Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline project bodes surprisingly well for the future of pipeline approvals. The Post's Gaetan Caron writes that even though the court decided the previous Harper government failed to pursue a meaningful two-way dialogue with indigenous peoples affected by the project, that failure occurred over the last few months of a formal review that took almost four years. That does not even include the four years of preliminary public consultations that were conducted to decide on the form and scope of the review process.
Although the court ruling adds uncertainty to Gateway, it also makes very clear that many elements of the process are just fine the way they are. The court dismissed most of the claims of indigenous groups and environmental organizations that oppose the pipeline. The court noted that Gateway has 26 aboriginal equity partners representing almost 60 per cent of the aboriginal communities along the pipelines' right-of-way, and 80 per cent of the area's combined first nations and Metis population.
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