Premiers Criticize Environment Minister’s Remark on Halting New Road Investments

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

The premiers of Alberta, Ontario, and Manitoba have expressed disappointment following Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s comments that Ottawa would no longer invest in new roads or highways. Mr. Guilbeaul has since said that his comments were in reference to large projects, not all new road projects.

“So now our Environment Minister wants to cut federal funding for roads…because we should all just walk more. Does this minister understand that most Canadians don’t live in downtown Montreal?” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said on platform X on Feb. 14.

“Most of us can’t just head out the door in the snow and rain and just walk 10 km to work each day. Can we return to the real world, Minister Guilbeault?”

On Feb. 12, Mr. Guilbeault said Ottawa had made the decision to stop investing in new road infrastructure.

“Of course, we will continue to be there for cities, provinces, and territories to maintain the existing network, but there will be no more envelopes from the federal government to enlarge the road network,” he said during a conference on public transit in Montreal on Feb. 12.

The environment minister said that funding new road networks would encourage more Canadians to drive their own personal vehicles, which he said increases congestion and encourages further road development. With a quarter of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions coming from transportation, the Liberal government has emphasized funding for programs that encourage Canadians to switch to public transit or buy electric vehicles.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said that he was “gobsmacked” by the environment minister’s announcement, accusing Mr. Guilbeault of not being concerned with traffic congestion.

“He doesn’t care that you’re stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. I do. We’re building roads and highways, with or without a cent from the feds,” Mr. Ford said on platform X on Feb. 13.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also reacted to Mr. Guilbeault’s comments on social media, saying the “radical” minister “won’t be happy until we’re living back in mud huts.”

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe accused Mr. Guilbeault on social media of wanting Canadians to “walk everywhere,” adding that the Liberal government was getting “more out of touch with reality every day.”

Guilbeault Clarifies Comments

On Feb. 14, Mr. Guilbeault addressed the backlash following his comments, saying he “should have been more specific.”

“Of course we’re funding roads. We have programs to fund roads, but we have said—and maybe I should have been more specific in the past—is that we don’t have funds for large projects like the Troisième lien that the CAQ has been trying to do for for many years,” he said.

The Troisième lien is a road tunnel project to connect Quebec City and Lévis across the Saint Lawrence River. The Coalition Avenir Quebec government under Francois Legault committed to start construction on the project before 2022, but construction has yet to start.

The Liberal government has committed $30 billion to develop public transportation across Canada since 2016, including $400 million in 2021 through the Active Transportation Fund to encourage the building of multi-use pathways, bike lanes, and footbridges across roadways over the next five years.