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‘A lot of Albertans are feeling like a huge weight has been lifted,’ said Heather Exner-Pirot
Schulz said she hoped to see Guilbeault left out of new Prime Minister Mark Carney’s maiden cabinet, a wish that went unfulfilled as Carney named him Minister of Canadian Culture and Identity and Quebec lieutenant on Friday.
Guilbeault will also hold onto his role overseeing Parks Canada, despite criticism of his response to last summer’s wildfires in Alberta’s Jasper National Park.
This was about the kindest tribute Guilbeault could have expected from a province where his championing of anti-oil and gas policies made him public enemy number one.
Schulz’s boss, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, notoriously asked American right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson to put Guilbeault in his “crosshairs” at a January 2024 event in Edmonton, a remark Guilbeault said was an incitement to violence.
Smith could have hardly dreamt up a better foil than Guilbeault, a lifelong environmental activist and climate zealot seemingly rolled out of central casting for the part of Alberta’s bête noire.
Exner-Pirot said the presence of a known anti-fossil fuel activist at the helm of the federal environment ministry made it virtually impossible to coax private companies to put up money for major oil and gas projects.
“No one in Canada was ever going to propose a new pipeline when Minister Guilbeault had the veto card under the Impact Assessment Act,” said Exner-Pirot.
Severson-Baker noted that Guilbeault made Alberta-friendly revisions to federal clean energy and emissions cap regulations after lengthy consultation periods.
Carney announced on Friday that Winnipeg MP Frank Duguid would be replacing Guilbeault as minister of environment and climate change.
Carney also announced Friday, in his first official act as prime minister, that he’d immediately remove the consumer carbon tax, a policy that Guilbeault championed as environment minister.
National Post
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