In a move widely described as “peak Ottawa energy,” Liberal MP Steven Guilbeault dramatically exited cabinet Thursday after Prime Minister Mark Carney inked a memorandum of understanding with Alberta to build yet another pipeline, this one promising a million barrels a day, because apparently round numbers poll well.
Guilbeault, who entered politics to fight climate change but somehow ended up minister of everything except the environment, announced his resignation in a lengthy social-media thread that exceeded the character limit of most attention spans. “Environmental issues must remain front and center,” he wrote, moments before the federal government placed them securely in the overhead bin and resumed taxiing toward the oil terminal.
The deal, proudly signed by Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, charts a “new path forward,” which critics say looks suspiciously like the old path, except with more bitumen.
Guilbeault will remain a Liberal MP and thanked Carney for letting him serve in cabinet, a position he now describes as “emotionally taxing but emissions-increasing.”
