Several days after Justice Minister David Lametti appeared to bring the matter into question, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government “will not be touching” the western provinces’ jurisdiction over their natural resources.
“As prime minister, I’m happy to stand here right now and say we will not be touching the NRTA [Natural Resources Transfer Agreement],” Trudeau told reporters in Regina, Saskatchewan, on April 13.
“Natural resources are constitutionally directed to be the purview of the provinces,” he said. “We’re not putting that into question.”
Trudeau’s comments come just over a week after Lametti told the Assembly of First Nations Special Chiefs that he would “commit to looking at” the NRTA. The agreement has been in place between the federal government and Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia since 1930, and guarantees that the provinces hold control over the management of their own natural resources….