Steven Guilbeault resigns, will inform Liberal caucus Wednesday

Former federal minister Steven Guilbeault is set to inform the Liberal caucus on Wednesday about his planned resignation.

Guilbeault has been disappointed in recent months by what he is calling the dismantling of climate policies under Prime Minister Mark Carney.

He quit Carney’s cabinet last year once the federal government’s energy deal with Alberta was made public. This deal included rollbacks on climate policies and the promise to work toward a bitumen pipeline to the west coast.

As part of his resignation announcement, Guilbeault said, “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.”

Currently, the Liberals have a slim majority, with 174 seats in the House of Commons.

Another former environment minister, MP Jonathan Wilkinson, is also expected to leave his role. He will serve as Canada’s next ambassador to the European Union.

The CBC reported last week that 14 Liberal MPs sent a letter to the prime minister at the end of April. This was to express their concern about the government’s planned agreement with Alberta.

On Monday, Carney made a housing announcement and said that in a healthy caucus, there is always an exchange of views and suggestions.

Federal ministers Lena Diab and Marjorie Michel showered the former environment minister with praise, responding to media reports that Guilbeault was set to resign.

READ MORE: Marc Miller appointed Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture after Guilbeault resignation

Michel said he appreciated Guilbeault’s work, advocacy and respected his decision while Diab said Guilbeault was an excellent minister and MP.

Guilbeault has represented the Montreal riding of Laurier, Sainte-Marie since 2019 and has often said his activism began at the age of five, when he climbed a tree in an attempt to stop real estate developers who were clearing forest near his home in La Tuque, Que.

He co-founded Équiterre in 1993 and helped it become the largest environmental organization in Quebec, being its senior director from 2007 to 2018.

Before politics, Guilbeault also worked with Greenpeace, Deloitte and Copticom. In 2001, he and another Greenpeace activist were arrested for scaling the CN Tower to protest the US and Canada rejecting the Kyoto climate accord.

Guilbeault joined former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet as heritage minister, taking over the environment portfolio two years later.

He led Canada at COP29 in 2021 and directed national strategies for emissions reduction, climate adaptation and nature conservation

Guilbeault was one of the first members of Trudeau’s cabinet to publicly endorse Carney’s leadership of the Liberals. His resignation will still leave the liberal government with a slim majority in the House of Commons.

With files from The Canadian Press

READ MORE: Steven Guilbeault resigns from cabinet following Alberta pipeline deal