Alberta energy deal was 'the last straw,' says Guilbeault after cabinet resignation

Canada testament non be able-bodied to accomplish the mood change targets it has set given recent decisions by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government, warns former Liberal minister Steven Guilbeault.

Speaking on Radio-Canada's Tout le monde en parle, Guilbeault said recent decisions by Carney’s government, such as last week’s memorandum of understanding with Alberta, will make reaching the targets impossible.

“Prime Minister Carney has a different view from mine on this,” he said during the show which aired Sunday evening.

“He thinks we’ll be able to do this with the market, with private investment. Of course, we have to do that, but I also think we need to have regulations in place to ensure that we achieve the goals we have set for ourselves. And by abandoning many of these measures, that becomes impossible.

“I mean, if we are honest with Canadians, we can no longer achieve our targets for 2030 with the announcements that have been made recently. It’s not possible.”

A major climate change think-tank, the Canadian Climate Institute, reported earlier this year that Canada's 2030 climate target is now out of reach.

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Guilbeault’s appearance on Tout le monde en parle, one of the most popular television shows in Quebec, came only a few days after the longtime environmentalist and former environment minister announced he could no longer remain culture minister after Carney signed the agreement with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.

The agreement provides for a new bitumen pipeline to the B.C. Coast. Ottawa also agreed to suspend a proposed federal gas emissions cap and Alberta’s requirements under the Clean Electricity Regulations.

Guilbeault requested a briefing from the Prime Minister’s Office and it was then that he told them that he couldn’t accept what was being proposed. 

He said he proposed changes to the agreement, but they were not accepted.

Guilbeault said it is normal to make compromises but the agreement with Alberta was “the last straw.”

“At a given moment, you have to be able to look in the mirror [and ask yourself] would I be able to defend that decision and to say, yes, I agree with that?”

At one point in the interview, Guilbeault appeared to be fighting back tears, when asked whether his resignation meant that he was abandoning culture and cultural groups.

“There are so many things that I would have liked to do with them,” he said. “But the sacrifice of doing that, the price was too high to pay.”

Guilbeault said Alberta was making progress and investing in renewable energy until Smith was elected premier and imposed a moratorium on renewable energy in Alberta “for ideological reasons.”

“That represented billions of dollars in investment,” said Guilbeault. “They lost 5,000 to 10,000 jobs almost overnight.”

Guilbeault said Smith “will never be satisfied” and trying to placate her is a mistake. In two or three months, she will want more, Guilbeault predicted.

“In my opinion, she is not a reliable partner in this negotiation.”

Guilbeault said the federal government had been making progress on climate change but is rolling it back to “please Alberta.”

“In exchange for what? Because I looked at that agreement and I don’t understand why they did that.”

In his resignation statement Thursday, Guilbeault spelled out the various Trudeau-era measures that have been rolled back under Carney.

“Over the past few months, several elements of the climate action plan I worked on as minister of the environment have been, or are about to be, dismantled: the consumer carbon pricing, the Zero Emission Vehicle standard, the oil and gas sector emissions cap, the framework to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies and the Clean Electricity Regulations,” Guilbeault wrote.

“In my view, these measures remain essential to our climate action plan.”

Guilbeault said he still supports Carney and would vote for him in an election. He plans to continue to fight for cultural groups and the things he believes in from within the Liberal caucus, to influence policy and to push the government. The fact that he no longer has to show ministerial solidarity means that he will have more leeway to speak his mind, he said.

Guilbeault also hopes that his resignation will be a wake-up call.

“If my resignation from cabinet raises awareness and that people say ‘OK, perhaps we have gone a little too far in one direction and perhaps we have to steer the ship back a little,’ if it can serve that purpose, it will be a good thing,” he said.

Senior reporter

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