SWIFT: Canada's Environment Minister a shining example of incompetence
Steven Guilbeault's tenure has been an abject failure and downright dangerous for Canada
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It’s almost like shooting fish in a barrel to criticize the federal Liberal government these days.
They are committing so many “own goals” one almost feels sorry for them. And a shining example of the government’s incompetence can be found in the actions of Minister of the Environment Steven Guilbeault.
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Trudeau putting Guilbeault in the post of Minister of the Environment appeared to be a giant middle finger to Alberta. One can only wonder what a different path the federal Liberals would pursue if the oil and gas industry was based in Quebec.
Most recently, Guilbeault was on the world stage representing Canada at COP29 in Azerbaijan, where taxpayers fund a large delegation of politicians, bureaucrats and other hangers-on to strut and preen on the international stage. And Guilbeault didn’t miss the chance to make announcements to spend even more of our money on half-baked green policies.
But Guilbeault’s prior faux-pas are legion. His ban on plastics and attempt to classify plastic as “toxic” were policies rebuked by the Federal Court in late 2023. The court found his approach to be unscientific and unconstitutional as it intruded on provincial jurisdiction.
Guilbeault also dreams of imposing a “plastics registry,” requiring businesses to track the life cycle of a plastics product from creation to end use. As many plastics are virtually infinitely recyclable, this would be an unimaginable undertaking and an expensive red tape nightmare for businesses already burdened with absurd levels of useless red tape.
As it turns out, such a plastics registry would also contravene the USMCA trade agreement that Guilbeault’s government renegotiated with the U.S. and Mexico just a few short years ago.
More recently, we’ve seen how Guilbeault and his cabinet post predecessor Catherine McKenna ignored multiple warnings from their own staff for years about the tinderbox that was developing in the Jasper area. During the recent horrendous wildfires, federal officials reportedly prevented local firefighting personnel from helping fight the fires on federally-regulated Jasper territory.
Given the devastation in the Jasper wildfires, it is shocking there have been no consequences for either Guilbeault or senior bureaucrats in the department. Then again, it was only Alberta, after all.
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Other major Guilbeault objectives have also met with failure as they were foolish to begin with, poorly executed, or both.
The Electric Vehicle (EV) mandate, was intended to force all new autos sold to be EVs by 2035. But EVs are ruining their own reputation by catching on fire, being costly to run, making auto accidents worse and by being nowhere near as “green” as advertised.
Automakers – some of whom received billions of our tax dollars – are backing off their production of EVs and EV components as consumers reject them.
Other pending Guilbeault failures are the emissions cap for the oil and gas industry and the revamp of the Impact Assessment Act, otherwise known as the no more pipelines bill. The Fraser Institute estimates an emissions cap will substantially reduce Canada’s GDP, eliminate as many as 150,000 well-paying jobs and cut at least $150 billion from government revenues.
Can you imagine the government telling the auto industry they can only produce so many cars, or retailers that they must stop their sales after a certain point? Of course not. This is the kind of thing that governments do in Communist countries, not Canada.
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As for the Impact Assessment Act, which would pile all kinds of new delays and red tape onto major resource projects, the Supreme Court deemed the legislation to be unconstitutional in October 2023. Rebuked once again by the courts, Guilbeault said he would amend the Act in response, which has not happened as yet.
In his chaotic and disastrous tenure as Environment Minister, Guilbeault has not only been an abject failure, but downright dangerous for Canada. The silver lining is that a federal election is not far away, and a new government will be able to reverse much of this mess and put in place sensible, balanced environmental policies that will benefit Canada and Canadians while actually producing measurably positive domestic and global climate results.
It can’t happen soon enough.
– Catherine Swift is President of the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses of Canada. Learn more at www.ccmbc.ca.
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