Mark Carney to lose star environmentalist from caucus

OTTAWA — Mark Carney’s oil-and-gas-friendly policies are about to cost him a star lawmaker, dealing a fresh blow to the prime minister’s fragile majority government and environmental credibility.

POLITICO has confirmed that Steven Guilbeault will announce his resignation Wednesday, according to a person granted anonymity to discuss the decision before it is made public.

He’ll later address the House of Commons about the move, amid disillusionment with the trajectory of Carney’s Liberal government policies.

Guilbeault declined to comment.

While the former Cabinet minister represents a reliably Liberal Montreal-area seat, his resignation knocks Carney’s government down to 173 seats — just one above the threshold for a majority.

It also deals Carney fresh reputational damage in Quebec, an influential province where environmental issues rank high among voters’ priorities.

The Liberals gained green credibility when Guilbeault ran for public office under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal banner in 2019. Since his arrival in Ottawa, he’s been a popular target of opposition Conservatives for his environmental activism.

But Guilbeault found himself in recent years speaking out against his own government’s policies while still voting to support the measures.

During his tenure as environment minister, Guilbeault found himself in the ironic position of green-lighting a C$12 billion fossil fuel mega project. The following year, he made his disappointment known when Trudeau weakened the country’s carbon pricing system with carve-outs for home heating. He vowed there would be no more exemptions during his watch.

But as Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine and Trump administration tariffs against its allies continue to change where and how the world consumes its energy, Carney has moved the Liberals to the right, embracing oil and gas — something Guilbeault couldn’t stomach.

Guilbeault quit Carney’s Cabinet in November in protest of the federal government’s deal with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to help boost oil production in the province.

That deal has since matured into what Carney calls an “implementation agreement” with Alberta.

On top of supporting a bitumen pipeline project to the West Coast, Carney has raised the prospect of reviving the Keystone XL pipeline with Trump, scrapped the consumer carbon tax, announced plans to repeal Canada’s EV sales mandate and moved to scrap the oil and gas emissions cap.

Asked Monday about news that more than a dozen Liberal MPs wrote him to register concerns about Canada’s climate agenda, Carney said debate is expected in a healthy caucus. He pointed to the government strategy on electricity and nature: “We do many things at the same time,” he told reporters.

Heading into a caucus meeting on Tuesday, Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin downplayed dissent within caucus. “We have a range of opinions,” she said. “That’s actually what makes us stronger.”

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, who helped recruit Guilbeault to politics, said the global energy crisis demands pragmatism.

“We need to be able to protect our energy sovereignty and be able to support our allies,” she said Tuesday. “We can do both — we can work on energy security, we can work on protecting the environment.”

المصدر: Politico