Steven Guilbeault announced Wednesday he will resign his seat in the House of Commons later this summer, ending nearly seven years as a Liberal MP and minister in a break driven by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s energy deal with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to clear the path for a new oil pipeline.
A source had confirmed the decision a day earlier. The resignation had been building since last November, when Guilbeault walked out of cabinet, where he served as minister responsible for Canadian heritage, the day that deal was signed. Since then, he had become a persistent thorn in the government’s side, criticizing the cancellation of the consumer carbon tax, the scrapping of the electric vehicle mandate, and signals that Ottawa might lift the oil tanker moratorium off British Columbia’s coast to accommodate a new pipeline.
Guilbeault delivered his statement in the House at approximately 4 p.m. Wednesday.
“After almost seven years as Member of Parliament and Minister, I have come to the conclusion that it is time for me to pursue my fight for environmental protection and the fight against climate change in a different way,” he said. He told reporters after the Liberal national caucus meeting that he felt “at peace” with the decision and that “it’s time for me to move on.” He plans to stay on for a few more weeks to wrap up local projects in his Laurier-Sainte-Marie riding before his departure takes effect.
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Carney acknowledged the split without dramatizing it, saying he had known Guilbeault leaving was a possibility and that the two had engaged in discussions on many issues. He then thanked Guilbeault for his time as an MP under the Liberal banner.
Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon offered a blunter defence of the government’s direction. “It’s a different Liberal party that is meeting the very urgent and critical demands of the moment,” he told reporters, citing the trade war, conflicts in the Middle East and Europe, and climate change.
Reactions elsewhere were sharper. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May called herself “heartbroken” and aimed her frustration squarely at the Liberals recent changes on climate policy. “We see a constant effort to roll back environmental protections and climate action, no wonder Steven Guilbeault is leaving this place.” she said.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre offered no such eulogies. “He has fueled a lot of resentment, justifiable resentment, from people who can’t work.”
Before entering politics in 2019, Guilbeault spent decades as one of Quebec’s most recognizable environmental advocates, co-founding Équiterre and working for Greenpeace. He scaled the CN Tower in 2001 to protest Canada’s failure to ratify the Kyoto agreement, and later served as environment minister under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a role that made him a lightning rod in Alberta, where Smith and other conservative leaders accused him of trying to shut down oil and gas production.
He told the House he intends to keep fighting outside Parliament. “It is with this same conviction that I wish to continue this fight for the generations who will inherit our precious and unique blue planet.”
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