Steven Guilbeault didn't shout about climate betrayal when he announced his departure from politics on Wednesday, but it was clear why he is leaving the Liberal caucus, writes Campbell Clark.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
“Things change,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said. His reaction to Steven Guilbeault’s plan to quit elected politics was expressed entirely in the passive voice.
Mr. Guilbeault’s move was just something that happened. Sometimes a man goes overboard. There was no hint that in many ways it was Mr. Carney who changed things.
Circumstances had changed, it’s true. Canada’s economic imperatives, and public support for oil and gas development are very different than two years ago. There’s also the fact that Mr. Carney had relaxed climate policy in ways more far-reaching than Mr. Guilbeault expected.
When it came time to go, it was a surprisingly polite divorce. Mr. Guilbeault gave a warm statement in the House of Commons that he planned to leave his seat as an MP this summer, looked back on his experience in politics and hugged Industry Minister Mélanie Joly.
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The lifelong environmental activist entered electoral politics seven years ago as a symbol of climate policy zeal, giving Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government some green cred, especially in Quebec. When he announced his departure, he played down the symbolism. He didn’t shout about climate betrayal. He didn’t slam the door.
It was still clear why he is going.
In November, the Prime Minister struck a deal with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith that effectively promised approval of a new oil pipeline in return for Ms. Smith’s commitment to a long-term carbon pricing regime that was weaker than the one he had put forward as Mr. Trudeau’s environment minister. The “implementation agreement” that the two governments signed two weeks ago watered down the regime even more.
In an interview with CTV News, Mr. Guilbeault plainly said the Ottawa-Alberta agreement is the reason he is leaving politics. He noted that in sum, the deal will dramatically cut Canada’s projected emissions reductions far below the 2030 target. Now, he said he’s going to continue his fight against climate change outside of Parliament.
Mr. Carney’s shrug at the departure suggested that the government sees Mr. Guilbeault’s environmental symbol as a spent force in politics.
As the former environment minister, the MP had been widely mocked as a radical in English Canada and more or less labelled an enemy of Alberta by Ms. Smith, who has now become Mr. Carney’s deal-making partner. The carbon tax he defended, which became deeply unpopular as inflation took off in 2022, was cancelled by Mr. Carney on his first day in office.
Mr. Carney’s government is built on a world-has-changed argument that economic and energy development are imperative for prosperity and sovereignty in a dog-eat-dog global order. Mr. Guilbeault’s style of interventionist climate policy is at odds with the Liberal zeitgeist.
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Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson, in Vancouver for the announcement of the liquid natural gas deal, insisted Liberal MPs still believe in reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. But he more or less said they won’t do it Mr. Guilbeault’s way.
“The collective view is the way we’re going to get there is not by telling people what they can’t do, but by building. By building in a more responsible way,” he said.
In Mr. Trudeau’s tenure, there had been sporadic rumours that Mr. Guilbeault had threatened to quit the cabinet over his opposition to a decision, such as the 2023 move to pause carbon taxes on heating oil to quell political discontent in Atlantic Canada.
“I never said that,” he said in a 2024 interview in his Environment Canada office. “Maybe one day we will make a decision and I will say I find that decision unacceptable and leave, but I won’t make threats.”
“You can’t agree 100 per cent of the time with decisions, but you stay because you find that in a general way you’re at ease with the body of work.”
On Wednesday, it was clear that Mr. Guilbeault wasn’t keen to tear down his Liberal colleagues, but he was no longer at ease with the body of work.
Mr. Carney’s Liberals are unperturbed. They don’t seem to fear the loss of support to a weakened NDP, or the loss of a symbol in Quebec. True to his word, he didn’t kick and scream. He’s just going to get up and leave.