Alberta Premier Wants Trudeau to Replace Environment Minister Guilbeault

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith at the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce in Edmonton on July 20, 2023. The Canadian Press/Jason Franson

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is calling for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to “replace” Steven Guilbeault, calling the environment minister a “menace.”

“The attitude that Minister Guilbeault has taken toward our province is absolutely unacceptable,” Ms. Smith said during a Dec. 7 press conference after Ottawa’s announcement of a regulatory framework to cap oil and gas emissions.

“I quite frankly hope that Justin Trudeau replaces this minister. He’s a menace. He’s a menace to us. He’s a menace to national unity.”

Hours before Ms. Smith’s remarks, Mr. Guilbeault announced the oil and gas sector needs to lower emissions by 35 to 38 percent below 2019 levels. According to the new policy, the energy sector will also be able to buy a limited number of carbon offset credits or contribute to a decarbonization fund, which would lower that requirement to a 20 to 23 percent reduction in emissions.

Mr. Guilbeault said putting a cap on emissions was a promise they had made in the 2021 election.

“No one should be allowed unlimited pollution. It harms our health and environment. We put a cap on it,” he said on X after the announcement.

The Alberta premier called the announcement a “de facto production cap on Alberta’s oil and gas sector” and an “intentional attack by the federal government on the economy of Alberta and the financial well-being of millions of Albertans and Canadians.” In 2020, Alberta accounted for 81.3 percent of Canada’s total crude oil production, compared to second place Saskatchewan’s 9.3 percent.

The Alberta premier told reporters her cabinet would develop a “constitutional shield in response to this and other recent attacks on our province by what is fast becoming one of the most damaging federal administrations in Canadian history.”

The province has already invoked its sovereignty act in response to the federal government’s requirement of having a net-zero electricity grid by 2035.

Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault speaks during a media availability on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Nov. 27, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Justin Tang)

‘Collaborative Federalism’

While Alberta has had a frosty relationship with Ottawa in recent years, Ms. Smith said she'd had a “great relationship” with Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne on projects like the Dow Chemical plant in Fort Saskatchewan, the Net-Zero Hydrogen Energy Complex in Edmonton, and the upcoming Heidelberg Materials carbon captured net-zero cement plant.

“That is what cooperative federalism looks like,” Ms. Smith said, adding that Mr. Guilbeault, meanwhile, had “arrogantly said that whatever conversations that we’ve had at this table are irrelevant.”

“He is clearly destructive in trying to get to some common ground, and that is on him. It’s not on us,” she said. “We have done everything we possibly can to approach with the spirit of collaborative federalism. He has not, and I think his imperious attitude is one that should be rewarded with removal from his position.”

During the press conference, Alberta’s Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz said Mr. Guilbeault acted “wildly disrespectful” at COP28 in Dubai by refusing to say when Ottawa would announce the oil and gas emissions cap, and saying they would need to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to view it beforehand.

“We’re remarking how odd that was, how unprecedented that was. And as the premier has said, if this was a constructive federalism, we wouldn’t have to sign an NDA to have a conversation with the federal government about policies that impact areas of provincial jurisdiction,” she said.

For his part, Mr. Guilbeault previously accused the premier of “choosing to create fear and uncertainty over collaboration” after she invoked the sovereignty act.

“Over the past several months, the federal government has been engaging in good faith with the Alberta government on clean electricity investments and draft regulations, very much including through the Canada-Alberta working group,” Mr. Guilbeault and Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson said in a joint statement on Nov. 27.

“At no point in time did the Alberta government, including representatives from the Premier’s office, raise the Premier’s intent to introduce this Sovereignty Act motion on the draft regulations during these meetings.”

This is not the first time Ms. Smith has had choice words for the environment minister. Back in July, the Alberta premier said that, when it came to working with Ottawa on its climate agenda, “we have five cabinet ministers that we’re dealing with—four of them are reasonable, one of them is not.”

Ms. Smith said she hoped the four “reasonable” ministers would be able to ensure that “Guilbeault is not the one who carries the day because he’s the one, unfortunately, who is sending mixed messages and it’s not helpful.” In response to the comments, Mr. Guilbeault said, “We have our differences, but we have also the capacity to work them out.”

Court Cases

Ottawa’s announcement around the oil and gas cap comes as it recently lost two federal court cases involving its proposed ban on plastics and environmental impact assessment legislation, both of which were deemed unconstitutional.

However, Ottawa won against the provinces challenging the carbon tax in 2021 after the Supreme Court said the federal government had a right to coordinate a national approach in its climate change policies.