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B.C.’s top court rules for $6.6-billion Coastal GasLink pipeline, against Indigenous law – Financial Post

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CALGARY – The Supreme Court of British Columbia has ruled that Indigenous law is not necessarily Canadian law in a decision that will enable more construction work on the $6.6-billion Coastal GasLink pipeline despite some First Nations opposition.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church ruled Tuesday that Coastal GasLink has suffered irreparable harm after protestors built blockades and camps to stop work crews from accessing parts of the natural gas pipeline route between Dawson Creek and Kitimat, B.C., where a massive LNG export terminal is under construction.

Church granted both an interlocutory injunction and an enforcement order, which will “provide a mandate to the RCMP to enforce the terms of the order.”

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While Wet’suwet’en customary laws clearly exist on their own independent footing, they are not recognized as being an effectual part of Canadian law

Justice Church

The decision doesn’t spell out what the RCMP can do to enforce the injunction but police have been heavily scrutinized over the past year for enforcing a previous injunction granted by Justice Church against Coastal GasLink protestors.

Last January, RCMP officers enforcing an interim injunction order for Coastal GasLink moved on a blockade, arrested protestors and removed obstacles in what became a nationally televised confrontation.

The case has showcased divisions within some First Nations communities, where elected chiefs and hereditary chiefs sometimes jostle to enforce title rights of parts of traditional territories.


Protesters rally last year in Vancouver in support of the Wet’suwet’en, who had set up a checkpoint and camp in opposition to the TransCanada Coastal GasLink pipeline.

Nick Procaylo/PostMedia

In this case, Coastal GasLink has signed agreements with elected First Nations groups along the pipeline route, but a group of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs have said they oppose the project and tried to use First Nations law to prevent the company from building the pipeline.

In her decision, Justice Church took issue with various First Nations groups and some hereditary chiefs claiming that Indigenous laws give them legal rights to blockade crews trying to access the area.

“They submit that the plaintiff is in their traditional territory in violation of Wet’suwet’en law and authority and their efforts in erecting the Bridge Blockade were to prevent violation of Wet’suwet’en law,” Justice Church wrote.

However, she also noted that Indigenous laws do not become part of Canadian common or domestic law until they are enshrined through treaties, court declarations, statutory provisions or other means.

“There has been no process by which Wet’suwet’en customary laws have been recognized in this manner,” the judge wrote. “While Wet’suwet’en customary laws clearly exist on their own independent footing, they are not recognized as being an effectual part of Canadian law.”

However, the overlap between Canadian law and Indigenous law has not been completely settled and courts across the country have had different opinions on the topic, said Dwight Newman, a law professor at the University of Saskatchewan and the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Rights and Constitutional Law.

“I think there are some interesting tensions to be sorted out, which is a major issue for Canada in terms of in what ways Indigenous law does or does not become part of Canadian law,” Newman said in an interview.

“In terms of this particular decision, the judge is also saying that there wasn’t very good evidence in terms of what the Indigenous law was,” Newman said, noting the judge found multiple groups claiming rights over tracts of land amid conflicting claims of hereditary lineage.

The group of opposed Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs released a statement saying they would reject the Supreme Court decision, which they said has “criminalized” their Indigenous laws.

“We have a responsibility to enforce Wet’suwet’en laws and to ensure the health of our territories for future generations, as we have done for thousands of years,” the statement noted.

Coastal GasLink and some of the opposed hereditary chiefs came to an agreement on a protocol for accessing the area in April 2019, but some protestors have continued to impede work at the site.

Unidentified protestors had previously contravened an interim injunction, Justice Church wrote in her ruling.

In one case, the judge wrote, masked protestors delayed work by “driving a pickup truck into an active work site at a high rate of speed and close to contractors actively working on the road.”

For its part, Coastal GasLink said in a release it will continue to “abide by the terms” of agreements it signed with opposed groups like the Unist’ot’en Camp and “will continue efforts to engage with any affected groups to ensure public safety while our field crews continue to progress their crucial activities.”

• Email: gmorgan@nationalpost.com | Twitter:

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Economy grows more than expected, keeping the Bank of Canada 'on its toes' – Financial Post

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January GDP strongest monthly growth in a year

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The Canadian economy surprised to the upside in January, posting its strongest monthly growth in a year, which could keep the Bank of Canada “on its toes,” say economists.

Real gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the value of goods and services produced during a specific time frame, edged up by 0.6 per cent in January, according to Statistics Canada, beating analysts’ expectations of 0.4 per cent. The agency also expects a 0.4 per cent rise in GDP during February.

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“To put that two-month flurry of growth into perspective, the combined one per cent gain is as much as the economy grew in the entire 12 months of 2023,” Bank of Montreal chief economist Douglas Porter said in a note. “After a prolonged lull through much of last year … the economy looks to have caught some strong tailwinds early this year.”

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The rise in GDP was due to broad-based growth in 18 of the 20 sectors measured by Statistics Canada.

The public sector, which includes education, health care and social assistance and public administration, increased 1.9 per cent in January, following two consecutive monthly declines. Education, which grew by six per cent, was the largest contributor to the country’s growth as activity rebounded from strikes by public sector workers in Quebec late last year.

Manufacturing fully recouped December’s decline in growth with a 0.9 per cent rise in January. A sudden drop in temperature in mid-January in parts of Canada contributed to increased activity in the utilities sector, which rose by 3.2 per cent, its highest growth rate since January 2022.

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The real estate and rental sector grew for a third consecutive month — by 0.4 per cent — on higher resale activity. The Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton-Burlington and most markets in Ontario’s Greater Golden Horseshoe contributed to the growth.

The information and cultural services sector, which includes the motion picture and sound recording industry, also grew for the third consecutive month, as activity continued to ramp up following the end of a strike by the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in November.

These “robust” figures could pose a difficult challenge for the Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank economist Marc Ercolao said in a note.

While the central bank has received “solid evidence” in the past two months that inflation is cooperating, “strong GDP data prints” such as today’s will “keep them on their toes,” said Ercolao, who expects the first interest rate cut to take place in July.

On the labour front, Statistics Canada said there were 632,100 job vacancies in January, down 34,800, or 5.2 per cent, from November. Vacancies in the manufacturing sector declined by 10.2 per cent to 37,500, the lowest level since September 2017.

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Monthly payroll increases were recorded in 13 of 20 sectors, led by retail trade, manufacturing and finance. But these gains were offset by a 0.3 per cent decline in construction.

The number of employees receiving pay and benefits from their employers, as measured by payroll employment, rose for the first time in the retail trade after four consecutive monthly declines.

Despite the strong start to the year, some economists expressed caution, especially regarding February’s GDP estimate.

Claire Fan, an economist at the Royal Bank of Canada, said the “substantially stronger-than-expected” numbers are partially driven by one-off factors such as the ending of the Quebec teachers’ strike, so growth isn’t likely to be sustained in the coming months.

“We’ve learned to take the advance estimates (February) with a grain of salt as they have been highly revision prone,” she said, while retaining RBC’s assessment of a weak economic backdrop.

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BMO’s Porter said Canada experienced something similar last year when GDP stalled after a strong start to the year.

“There could be a serious issue with seasonality here, especially in light of much milder winters recently,” he said.

Despite the increase in GDP, most economists have stuck to their previous predictions that June will be when the Bank of Canada issues its initial interest rate cut.

• Email: nkarim@postmedia.com

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Former crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison

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Bankman-Fried, 32, sentenced for fraud on customers of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange he founded.

Former crypto tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in United States federal prison for stealing $8bn from customers of the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange he founded.

US District Judge Lewis Kaplan handed down the sentence at a Manhattan court hearing on Thursday after rejecting Bankman-Fried’s claim that FTX customers did not actually lose money and accusing him of lying during his trial testimony.

A jury found Bankman-Fried, 32, guilty on November 2 on seven fraud and conspiracy counts stemming from FTX’s 2022 collapse in what prosecutors have called one of the biggest financial frauds in US history.

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“He knew it was wrong,” Kaplan said of Bankman-Fried before handing down the sentence. “He knew it was criminal. He regrets that he made a very bad bet about the likelihood of getting caught. But he is not going to admit a thing, as is his right.”

Bankman-Fried stood with his hands clasped before him as Kaplan read the sentence.

Kaplan said the sentence reflected “that there is a risk that this man will be in position to do something very bad in the future. And it’s not a trivial risk at all.”

Prior to sentencing, Bankman-Fried stood and apologised. “A lot of people feel really let down. And they were very let down. And I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about what happened at every stage,” he said.

“My useful life is probably over. It’s been over for a while now, from before my arrest.”

Sam Bankman Fried
Sam Bankman-Fried, centre left, is escorted out of Magistrate Court following a hearing in Nassau, Bahamas, Dec. 19, 2022 [File: Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo]

Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey, reporting from New York, said that Bankman-Fried could have received up to 110 years behind bars for his crimes and that the 25-year sentence was less than the 40-50 years that prosecutors were seeking.

“Given the scale of this crime, one of the largest frauds in history, the judge took a very strong stance but also showed some flexibility… perhaps based on the arguments made by Bankman-Fried’s lawyers and his family that he had always intended to do good”, she said.

Bankman-Fried had billed himself as a proponent of effective altruism – finding the best way to help other people, in particular by donating all or part of one’s wealth to charity rather than, say, volunteering at a soup kitchen.

When the cryptocurrency world lurched into crisis in the spring of 2022, he bought shares in the troubled platform BlockFi and another troubled company, Voyager.

However, prosecutors have said the responsible image he cultivated concealed his years-long embezzlement of customer funds.

“The defendant victimised tens of thousands of people and companies, across several continents, over a period of multiple years. He stole money from customers who entrusted it to him” prosecutors said in a court filing.

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Gas prices in the Thompson Okanagan jumped by 7 cents a litre, days before the next carbon tax increase – Vernon News – Castanet.net

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Some area gas stations are not waiting until April 1 to crank up the price of gas.

On April Fools Day, the federal Liberals will be increasing the controversial carbon tax, which will directly impact the price at the pump.

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However, overnight, several Thompson Okanagan gas stations have already increased the price, selling the liquid gold for 174.9.

In January, gas was selling for a ‘mere’ 143.9 cents a litre. The latest hike is a whopping 31-cent-a-litre increase in just three months.

And the price of petrol is guaranteed to go up again when the carbon tax increase is implemented on Monday.

Kelowna drivers are also paying more at the pump today, with the majority of stations raising the price to 174.9.

As of 9:30 Thursday morning, the Co-op stations on Rutland and Sexsmith roads were at 168.9 as was the Costco gas station.

Several Vernon stations are holding at 167.9.

In Penticton, motorists are also paying more, with the price at the majority of stations hitting the 174.9 mark.

Kamloops drivers are also taking a hit to the wallet with gas in the Thompson community also selling for 174.9.

The Kamloops Costco was the cheapest in the city at 161.9 cents a litre.

Enderby continues to have some of the cheapest gas in the region at 165.9, however the Esso in Tappen has them all beat at 157.9.

Gas in Vancouver has crested the $2 a litre mark, sitting at 202.9 cents a litre.

And as usual, Calgary motorists are paying significantly less than their BC counterparts, filling up for 154.9 cents a litre.

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