The Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act And The National Concern Doctrine: A Rights-Based Approach?

Over the past two days, the Supreme Court of Canada heard appeals from decisions of the Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario Courts of Appeal on the constitutionality of the federal government's Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act (the "GGPPA" or the "Act").

The GGPPA, also known as the federal "carbon tax", is a mechanism for carbon pricing that seeks to set a minimum national standard for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions across the country. It is the federal government's primary method of addressing climate change and achieving Canada's international emissions reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement.

In the spring of last year, the Ontario and Saskatchewan Courts of Appeal each held that the GGPPA is constitutional and a valid exercise of Parliament's power to legislate matters of national concern under the Peace, Order, and Good Government ("POGG") power set out in s. 91 of the Constitution Act, 1867.