Alberta premier says 14 active and proposed federal legal challenges show breadth of Ottawa's overreach

The Alberta government has about 14 active and proposed legal challenges against the federal government alleging constitutional overreach, Premier Danielle Smith said Thursday.

Appearing virtually before a federal parliamentary committee Thursday morning, where she was invited to explain her opposition to the federal carbon tax, Smith said the number of ongoing legal challenges her government has against the federal Liberal government illustrates the degree of federal meddling.

«That should give you an indication of how often we think the federal government violated the spirit of the constitution,» Smith told reporters later at an unrelated news conference.

Justice Minister Mickey Amery's office later provided a list of 12 active judicial reviews.

Smith said at the news conference the Alberta government is also analyzing whether it can re-litigate a Supreme Court of Canada decision about the federal carbon tax, now that the government has exempted home heating oil.

Smith also said the federal government's proposed cap on greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas industry is ripe for a court challenge.

Smith said the Alberta government will continue to resist a federal plastics ban. The federal government is appealing a court decision that quashed an order declaring plastics to be a toxic substance.

Later, heading into the legislature, Amery told reporters Alberta has also intervened in a clash between the Ontario government and Ottawa. The federal government had said the controverted Impact Assessment Act's environmental assessment should apply to the planned construction of the 413 freeway around the north and west parts of the Greater Toronto Area.

Amery said Alberta has six ongoing judicial reviews related to the federal