Trudeau stands by environment minister as Danielle Smith calls for Guilbeault to be turfed
'If people are having trouble getting along with him, maybe they need to look at their own approach to these big issues,' Trudeau said of Guilbeault
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Alberta’s premier called Wednesday for the federal environment minister to be replaced, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is backing Steven Guilbeault in the role.
After sitting down with Danielle Smith in Calgary, the prime minister said he supports the high-profile minister, despite requests from Alberta’s premier to turf him from the job.
Guilbeault has become a magnet for attacks from the Alberta government over the oilpatch emissions cap and the incoming Clean Electricity Regulations, which are pushing provincial power grids to reach net-zero emissions by 2035.
“I have tremendous faith and confidence in my environment minister,” Trudeau told reporters.
“And if people are having trouble getting along with him, maybe they need to look at their own approach to these big issues.”
Smith said she told the prime minister she has a productive relationship with some federal cabinet members.
On Saturday, Smith met with Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, whom she’s credited with playing an instrumental role in attracting major investment to Alberta, such as the Dow petrochemical project in Fort Saskatchewan.
However, that’s not the case with Guilbeault.
Friction between Alberta, feds on climate and energy strategies
After the COP28 climate summit, Smith accused the federal minister in December of “continued treachery against our province” and asked the prime minister to replace him.
“I expressed my desire in person that if he chose to make a change in that portfolio, I’d be happy to have a reset in our relationship,” Smith said Wednesday.
“Well, I got a smile. I think he knows that Minister Guilbeault is not my favourite minister . . . But I did feel like I should tell him in person what I’ve been saying publicly, just so that there wasn’t any miscommunication on that.”
Smith and her predecessor, former premier Jason Kenney, have frequently blasted Guilbeault since he took over the environment portfolio in 2021.
Before getting into politics, Guilbeault was a former Greenpeace Canada campaign manager and the co-founder of Quebec environmental group Equiterre.
Much of the friction between the two governments has centred around federal climate and energy strategies, including an incoming cap on greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector in Canada.
Smith also cited lawsuits the federal government has lost in the past year over the Impact Assessment Act and Ottawa deeming manufactured plastic items as toxic.
The premier said it’s admirable the prime minister is “defending that member of his team, but I think that the reality is somewhat different.”
‘My job is not to be popular’: Trudeau
Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt said talk about firing the environment minister is largely political theatre.
Smith knows the prime minister won’t make such a change, while Guilbeault serves as a “lightning rod” for the federal government, he said.
“As a lightning rod, he protects everyone else. He is popular in Quebec and he’s probably doing stuff that Trudeau wants him to do,” Bratt added.
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Meanwhile, Trudeau pushed back on growing demands from premiers across the country to dump the planned hike to the consumer carbon levy on April 1, saying leaders must tackle both affordability and climate change.
“My job is not to be popular,” Trudeau said, briefly pausing and adding with a wry smile, “although it helps.
“My job is to do the right things for Canada now, and do the right things for Canadians a generation from now.”
Smith and six other premiers have called on Trudeau to abandon the 23 per cent hike to help Canadians already dealing with squeezed household budgets.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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