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The Niagara Independent, November 5, 2021 \u2013<\/em> Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u2019s selection of Steven Guilbeault as Minister of Environment and Climate Change has sent a clear signal that his government holds environmental objectives above all else. Guilbeault, the self-proclaimed \u201cclimate activist,\u201d is now holding all the cards in the high stakes game involving our country\u2019s economy. Ottawa\u2019s new table rules have the environment trumping the economy and all players have taken notice: the oil and gas sector, Canadian business leaders, as well as the international business community and foreign investors.<\/p>\n In the first moments as the lead of Trudeau\u2019s green agenda, the newly anointed minister leaned into a microphone outside of Rideau Hall to exclaim, \u201cCanadians must go faster.\u201d Like someone who was just dealt four aces, Guilbeault is eager to play his hand.<\/p>\n Being named the country\u2019s environment minister is a crowning achievement for a man who has spent his 30-year career rallying opposition against Canadian energy projects. Guilbeault has a storied history of environmental activism. It began in the early 1990\u2019s when Guilbeault founded a grassroots environmental group in Montreal and later went on to manage the Quebec chapter of Greenpeace.<\/p>\n Canadians are familiar with the photo of this proud activist in his orange jumpsuit being led away in handcuffs. In 2001, as a radical Greenpeace stuntman, Guilbeault scaled the CN Tower to hang a banner \u201cCanada and Bush Climate Killers.\u201d He is remembered by Calgarians for installing solar panels on then Premier Ralph Klein\u2019s home \u2013 without his permission. Also, it has been reconfirmed in the report on the Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns that Guilbeault received Tides Foundation grant money to coordinate environmental and Indigenous groups in an anti-oilsands campaign. For this Montrealer, western Canada\u2019s oil and gas sector has always been in his crosshairs.<\/p>\n \u201cI am a climate activist,\u201d Guilbeault summarized in a CBC exclusive reporting on his new cabinet post. He downplayed his criminal past and recast his activism as working with industry and government. Guilbeault dismissed his past deeds with a shrug, \u201cFor some, I\u2019m a radical. And for others, I\u2019m not radical enough.\u201d (The state-subsidized national newsroom wrapped up its interview by giving Guilbeault its editorial thumbs-up.)<\/p>\n In another interview to the Ottawa press corps last week, Guilbeault emphatically stated, \u201cI don\u2019t have a secret agenda as environment minister.\u201d He took this opportunity to explain his immediate priority would be to introduce legislation (or new federal regulations) that will establish an emissions cap on oil and gas produced in Canada. The first task is for the federal cabinet to set new five-year targets to rachet down oil and gas emissions to meet a net-zero target by 2050.<\/p>\n Guilbeault revealed he has already prompted a review of emissions levels of the oil and gas sector alongside his cabinet colleague Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson. The ministers made public a joint letter that they have sent to the federal government\u2019s Net-Zero Advisory Board requesting recommendations on the guiding principles to cap emissions. The ministers underlined their request by noting the Liberals recent electoral victory: \u201cCanadians gave us a clear mandate to deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n It was a heady first week for the new minister before he had to jet off to Glasgow and the United Nations COP26 climate summit with 300 bureaucrats and contracted experts from the department of Environment Canada. Minister Guilbeault will be leading the Canadian delegation at the global environmental groupthink after the opening days of ceremonial meals and speeches from the participating countries\u2019 leaders. Today through to next weekend, he will be the country\u2019s primary spokesperson to promote elements of Canada\u2019s climate agenda to his international audiences.<\/p>\n Back in Canada, reaction to Trudeau\u2019s new cabinet and his new environment minister has been one of anxiousness. There has been concern expressed for both Canada\u2019s economic prosperity and for its national unity. In a powerful National Post <\/i>opinion piece entitled \u201cWelcome to Justin Trudeau\u2019s no-growth cabinet,\u201d John Ivison assessed that \u201cPutting an activist in charge of a government department is always a dangerous thing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWho around the cabinet table worries about investment and growth?\u201d, and Ivison answers his own question by surmising, \u201cThis is not a cabinet that inspires confidence that it will be able to ensure continued prosperity or national unity\u2026Guilbeault and his band of eco-warriors will push for degrowth.\u201d<\/p>\n In another damning PostMedia<\/i> column, Jesse Kline stated \u201canti-oil crusader Steven Guilbeault hasn\u2019t grown up since his radical lawbreaking days\u201d and that this \u201cpick for environment minister is a signal of more hostility to Canada\u2019s energy industry. Globe and Mail<\/i> editorialists echoed this view, suggesting the new minister\u2019s anti-oil opinions could spur western alienation, \u201cWell, get ready for NEP 2.0,\u201d as \u201cthe 51-year-old Montreal MP represents Alberta\u2019s worst nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n When the word of Guilbeault\u2019s new cabinet responsibilities made it to Edmonton, Premier Jason Kenney observed, \u201cHis own personal background and track record on these issues suggest someone who is more an absolutist than pragmatist when it comes to finding solutions.\u201d Alberta\u2019s NDP Leader Rachel Notley chimed in, \u201cI share some of the concerns about some of the historical positions taken by him in the past, some of his anti-pipeline commentary, that is certainly troubling.\u201d<\/p>\n In assessing western Canadians\u2019 initial take on Guilbeault, a fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in Calgary, Heather Exner-Pirot, stated that the PM \u201ccouldn\u2019t have picked a more perfect villain.\u201d She assessed, \u201cThis sends a chilling signal to potential investors who might have been interested in investing in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n To that point, in the financial pages of the Washington Post<\/i>, the paper identified Guilbeault for its American readers by his nickname \u201cthe Green Jesus of Montreal.\u201d\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Because of Guilbeault\u2019s past it is understandable that Canada\u2019s resource industries are anxious. According to the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices, as many as 800,000 Canadian jobs are dependent on oil and gas, mining, heavy industry and auto manufacturing industries. These industries account for almost 70 per cent of Canada\u2019s exports and generated more than $300 billion in export revenue and investment in 2019.<\/p>\n Much is at stake. How Canadian resource industries rebound from the pandemic \u2013 for the future prosperity of Canadians \u2013 depends primarily on how Steven Guilbeault chooses to play out the aces in his hand.<\/p>\n Chris George<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of\u00a0CG&A COMMUNICATIONS<\/a>. Contact:\u00a0ChrisG.George@gmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n