The Cooperation Agreement Fails to Address Federal Jurisdiction Oversight in Line with Environmental Laws

Canada’s environmental assessment system exists to protect the public interest, uphold Indigenous rights, and ensure that major projects do not compromise the health of ecosystems or communities. The draft Co‑operation Agreement Between Alberta and Canada fails to meet that standard. Instead, it proposes a framework in which the federal government systematically defers to a provincial environmental assessment (EA) regime that is narrower, weaker, and structurally incapable of addressing federal responsibilities.The agreement repeatedly commits Canada to rely on Alberta’s processes “to address adverse effects within federal jurisdiction” for projects primarily under provincial jurisdiction (Clause 1(1)) and to avoid “duplicative decision‑making” by…