Despite the chair’s complaint that opposition MPs were trying to “point of order the meeting to death,” a special committee studying the Building Canada Strong Act agreed on an amended motion at its first meeting.

The committee was created Thursday, after Bill C-39 passed second reading in the House. Chair James Maloney apologized for scheduling the meeting early on a Friday, but said the alternative was meeting during the House’s week-long Thanksgiving break.

Conservative MPs, and the lone Bloc Québécois MP, quickly agreed with the Liberals on routine motions, but sticking points emerged as the committee worked to establish timelines and a preliminary witness list.

The creation of a special legislative committee is an unusual tool that bypasses the existing standing committee system. A legislative committee can only examine the bill that triggered its creation, with no tangents, fact-finding missions or opposition-initiated investigations, although members can put forward amendments.

Aya Dufour has that story. 

The Alberta Court of Appeal has ruled the federal government’s Impact Assessment Act is still unconstitutional.

This was the second time the province of Alberta had challenged the act, which sets out a process to review the environmental, economic, health and social effects of proposed projects like ports, mines and pipelines.

In a 4-1 decision issued Friday, the court said even though Ottawa modified the law after the Supreme Court struck down much of it in 2023, the new version still infringes on provincial jurisdiction.

The Court of Appeal found that, among other things, the act still gives Ottawa the power to stop a project in provincial jurisdiction if it has even the smallest impact on federal jurisdiction.

“While Parliament may have the power to create an impact assessment scheme that complements existing regulation in environmental matters, the (Impact Assessment Act) creates great uncertainty due to the potential for previously unpronounced standards to apply to designated projects,” the court wrote.

We thank Nick Murray at CP for that story.

Staying in that province, the chief of a northern Alberta First Nation says he wants to hear more details before deciding on investing in the proposed Pacific Link pipeline.

Chief Raymond Powder of the Fort McKay First Nation was one of five members of the Athabasca Tribal Council that met with Prime Minister Mark Carney last week.

He credited the prime minister for meeting with the chiefs on the day before he joined Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to announce that the pipeline had been officially listed as a project of national importance. With the designation, the project was officially approved and the Major Projects Office given a year to develop a binding conditions list.

The federal and provincial governments said they would take a 45 per cent ownership stake apiece, while Pembina Pipelines would have the remaining 10 per cent.

Ottawa also said that it would set aside a 10 per cent equity stake for Indigenous communities, though Liberal MP Corey Hogan told iPolitics this is a “floor not a ceiling.”

In an interview on Friday, Powder said Fort McKay has its own investment criteria and the First Nations would use that as a guideline on whether to invest, though the details on the equity opportunity needs to be determined.

“The logistics and the details and the mathematics within the 10 per cent will still have to be identified as reasonable, or how it would be with receiving that number, because we still have to work out the details and all that,” he said.

Marco Vigliotti reports.

In other headlines

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Internationally

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake has hit southern Panama, triggering tsunami warnings across Central and South America.

The US National Weather Service issued tsunami warnings for Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Guatemala on Friday following the quake.

Chile’s naval Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service also issued a tsunami warning.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was centred about 10km (6 miles) southwest of the remote community of Pitaloza Arriba along the Pacific Ocean coast.

Residents of Panama City reported feeling tremors, with buildings shaking and people evacuating into the streets.

“We felt it very strongly. It knocked things over in the kitchen, but we’re okay, though we’re very scared,” 60-year-old Rosendo Dominguez, who is from Herrera province, where the earthquake struck, told The Associated Press news agency by phone.

“Everyone is outside, scared,” Dominguez added.

Read more on Al Jazeera.

The Trump administration has imposed sweeping new sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) as part of its campaign to dismantle the tribunal over investigations into the United States and its allies, including Israel.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions on Friday, after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to South African prosecutor Navi Pillay, a former judge at the ICC and other international courts.

U.S. President Donald Trump has coveted that prize for himself. The move, however, long predated the Nobel Prize announcement.

The Associated Press has the breakdown.

In other international headlines

The Kicker

Readers of the evening brief know our writing team are dog people. Research coming out of Toronto is giving us yet another reason to appreciate our furry friends. NBC News has the story:

The secret to a good night’s rest? Let sleeping dogs lie — next to you 

Wishing you all a wonderful and restful Thanksgiving long weekend!