The Federal Court of Appeal has rejected a challenge to the construction of a massive rail and truck terminal in the Greater Toronto Area, allowing the project to proceed.
In a unanimous decision Friday, a three-judge panel concluded that the federal government’s decision to allow Canadian National Railway (CN) to build the terminal despite “adverse environmental effects” was reasonable.
The $250 million project aims to double the existing CN rail line in Milton, Ontario, and build a terminal for transferring containers between trucks and trains. The court case pitted CN and the government against Halton Region and its four municipalities as well as the region’s Conservation Authority.
In March, a Federal Court ruling overturned a green light given by the government in January 2021 and sent the project back to Ottawa for reconsideration – a decision that has now been reversed.
The lower court ruling highlighted concerns about air quality, citing the 800 diesel-powered trucks that would make daily trips to the terminal in Ontario’s Halton region. Four freight trains pulled by locomotives running on diesel – the fuel contains toxic pollutants, the ruling noted – would also pass through the terminal each day.
On Friday, the Court of Appeal ruled that the government had approved the project – with 325 conditions – after due consideration of the protection of human health, in accordance with environmental legislation.
An overview of the project
Justice Monica Biringer said the Federal Court took a “formalist” approach […] line by line” to determine whether the then Environment Minister, Jonathan Wilkinson, had considered all the negative effects. Instead, she should have thought about the issue from a more holistic perspective, she argued.
The trial court had ruled that the Cabinet failed to meaningfully address the project’s harmful effects on human health, particularly with regard to its impact on air quality. But on Friday, the judges presented this conclusion as “unreasonable”.
CN argued that the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area comprises one of the fastest growing regions in the country, increasing the need for freight transportation services.
The Montreal-based railway first presented its proposal in 2015, triggering an environmental assessment. The project would include a rail yard with more than 20 kilometers of new track as well as large cranes to move shipping containers.
Earlier this year, a separate ruling by the Federal Court of Appeal stayed a lower court ruling that halted construction, pending an appeal that concluded Friday.
Justice George Locke wrote in May that even if a work stoppage had no effect on CN’s long-term viability, any delay was “prejudicial to the public interest.”
Some members of the community have a very different vision of the situation. “It will be a nightmare. All these trucks are diesel,” said Lorna Mackie, a Milton resident, in a telephone interview.
“There are all kinds of houses on a street corner. There are all kinds of schools, she said, pointing to traffic jams and traffic jams as other problems. You’re going to see these big trucks driving past schools where kids are crossing the street. »
Mme Mackie said she and her husband John are considering leaving the area in the next few years, largely because of terminal construction. “We won’t stay,” she said. It’s already congested and we’re already frustrated with the traffic. »