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Politics

Carney’s cabinet selections clarify climate priorities before upcoming election

By John Woodside, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

With an election widely expected to be around the corner, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s  choice of cabinet ministers reveals his approach to this tense political  moment, observers say. 

For voters who  care about climate, the headline is that former Environment and Climate  Change Minister Steven Guilbeault, the longtime environmental activist  who has frequently drawn the ire of conservatives and the fossil fuel  industry, has been shuffled to a new far less controversial role. No  longer overseeing policies aimed at slashing emissions, from the carbon  price to oil and gas emissions cap, he will now serve as Carney’s Quebec  Lieutenant — the government’s leading voice in Quebec — as well as  Minister of Parks Canada and Minister of Canadian Culture and Identity. 

After  Carney and his cabinet were sworn in, the group held its first cabinet  meeting Friday afternoon where Carney announced the consumer facing  carbon price will be eliminated “immediately.” He said Canadians will  still receive rebate payments in the next quarter (the payment is  scheduled to be deposited in bank accounts before the end of April). 

“As my government’s first order of business, I have cancelled it,” he said in a statement posted to social media.

“This  will make a difference to hard-pressed Canadians but it is part of a  much bigger set of measures that this government is taking to ensure  that we fight against climate change, that our companies are  competitive, and the country moves forward,” he said. “So it’s my honour  on behalf of my colleagues to sign this.”

The  two big climate-related changes — shuffling Guilbeault and cutting the  carbon tax — go hand-in-hand, says James Rowe, an associate professor at  the University of Victoria who studies politics and environmental  movements. 

“Guilbeault  has been the literal face of selling that policy, and so to keep the  same minister in place as you’re changing one of the benchmark policies,  I just don’t see how it makes sense,” he said. “Shuffling Guilbeault  out of environment offers a fresh start, and signals some change from  Trudeau which I think is important politically, but I don’t think it has  to be read as a fundamental change beyond moving away from the consumer  carbon tax.”

Conservatives  are changing up their messaging in response to the moves. Alberta  Premier Danielle Smith has moved on from the consumer-facing tax to  focus on criticizing the industrial carbon pricing — the workhorse of Ottawa’s emission reduction plan. 

“I  am extremely concerned that this cabinet includes most of the same  ministers responsible for the most damaging government policies levelled  by Ottawa against Alberta in our over 100-year history,” she said in a  statement. “We are gravely concerned that plans to significantly  increase the industrial carbon tax will be just as damaging to Alberta’s  economy as the consumer carbon tax has been.”

Smith  also criticized the proposed oil and gas emissions cap, as well as  existing plans and legislation like the Impact Assessment Act, measures  to reduce plastic pollution, anti-greenwashing legislation, electric  vehicle sales mandates, and the Sustainable Jobs Act which aims to guide  a just transition for oil and gas workers. 

Terry  Duguid, who previously served as parliamentary secretary to Guilbeault,  has been promoted to Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada.  Duguid may not yet be a heavy hitter, but he’s been around the block.  When former environment minister Catherine McKenna was leading the  department, she tapped him to lead the cleanup of Lake Winnipeg. Since  then, he has also served as the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s special  advisor for water, and was a driving force behind the creation of the  Canada Water Agency. 

Other cabinet  ministers to take note of on environment-related files include Energy  and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, who retained his  post, and former Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada  Minister François-Philippe Champagne, who has been tapped to lead  Finance Canada. He was Justin Trudeau’s point person to land billions of  dollars worth of electric vehicle manufacturing and battery plant  deals. 

“Given Carney’s whole shtick is the  intersection of finance and climate, I think there’s a lot of subtle  signalling there for people who are paying attention that this is a file  that he’s going to be taking seriously,” Rowe said.

At the same time, Chrystia Freeland, who has long been an obstacle to climate action  around the cabinet table according to insiders, has returned to cabinet  serving as Minister for Transportation and Internal Trade. 

Guilbeault’s new gig

Quebec  is a vital battleground for the Liberals, and to avoid opposition  parties picking up seats, regional considerations have to be tended to  carefully, Rowe said. 

Quebec voters  typically want more ambitious climate action than other parts of the  country, and Guilbeault being tapped for the lieutenant job could be a  way to mitigate blowback from his being removed from the environment and  climate change post. 

Another clear  indication Carney was concerned about potential backlash from the  climate movement is that the morning of his swearing in as prime  minister, he met with leaders from environmental NGOs to outline his  vision for climate. 

Guilbeault will maintain a significant link to the environment portfolio with Parks Canada. As part of this role, Canada’s National Observer  has learned he will be responsible for stickhandling the conservation  and biodiversity protection file at large, including wildlife services  and marine conservation, previously under the purview of Fisheries and  Oceans Canada. Effectively being the minister for nature reflects one of  Guilbeault’s signature accomplishments from the Trudeau era — hosting  the UN biodiversity summit in Montreal in 2022 which landed the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (a major Paris Agreement-style treaty).

Catherine  Abreu, a prominent Canadian climate advocate and member of Canada’s  Net-Zero Advisory Body, said Carney comes into power with strong climate  credentials including launching the Glasgow Financial Alliance for  Net-Zero and spearheading efforts in the financial sector to recognize  and respond to climate risks. However, Carney’s opening gambit “feels  dangerous to me,” she said.

“I think we can  all understand a new leader’s desire to distinguish himself from the  previous leader, particularly when that previous leader’s popularity had  plummeted in some polls,” she said. “That being said, why are we  starting [changes] with the climate? Why are we starting with  environmental issues? Why are we starting with the environment and  climate change minister?”

Abreu warned the  abrupt about-face risks allowing the Conservative Party to set the  agenda for the coming election and “buy into this baseless axe the tax  political campaign that doesn’t have much behind it but a slogan.”

Conservative  Party Leader Pierre Poilievre said Friday that despite the cabinet  shuffle, Carney does not represent any real change from Trudeau. 

“Mark  Carney thinks Canadians are stupid,” he said. “It is the same Liberal  gang, with the same Liberal agenda, the same Liberal results and the  same Liberal promises as the last ten years, only now they are seeking a  fourth term in power.”

Poilievre went on  to pledge if elected, he would “axe the carbon tax for everyone  forever,” repeal the Impact Assessment Act that requires companies to go  through environmental assessments and “instead grant rapid permission”  to companies planning to build fossil fuel pipelines, export terminals  and mines. 

Caroline Brouillette, executive  director of Climate Action Network Canada, said in a statement that  even if Carney’s cabinet is short lived with an election on the horizon,  the climate crisis poses economic impacts worse than the threat of  tariffs from the United States, requiring an “all hands on deck”  approach. 

Mark Zacharias, executive  director at Clean Energy Canada, said in a statement that his  organization is encouraging Carney to capitalize on the opportunity  presented by the United States backsliding on climate commitments by  aggressively pivoting to a clean economic future.

“As  we enter a particularly tumultuous time, we hope the new prime minister  will stand up for Canada and guide the country down a better path to  prosperity alongside our clean-energy-focused trade partners in Europe  and Asia,” he said. 

Carney said Friday he intends to make Canada both a conventional and clean energy superpower. 

For  Rowe, that suggests Carney is likely to continue the Liberal Party  approach to climate: reducing domestic emissions while doing little to  address the staggeringly high emissions from fossil fuel exports. That’s  a significant problem for the world because Canada’s exported  emissions leapt to over one billion tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution in 2023 — far more than the country’s total. 

But  Carney understands climate change, and Rowe says the new prime minister  has an opportunity to redefine the narrative of climate action in this  country. Climate change has fallen down the list of priorities for  voters relative to economic issues, because Canadians still see climate  action as separate from pocketbook issues — but it’s not, he said.

“Carney  is well positioned to make that link between economy and environment  and clarify for Canadian voters that the climate is a national security,  economic security, bread-and-butter issue, and that it’s worth our  while collectively to move forward on that front,” he said.

“The  threat in this upcoming election cycle is if the NDP, or Bloc for that  matter, really try to outflank him on climate and propose some really  compelling plans that we have yet to see in the Canadian scene,” he  said. “Voters could get peeled away if he’s not careful.”

-With files from the Canadian Press

Links of Interest:

Top image credit: A candid shot of Mark Carney when he was the Chair FSB and Governor, Bank of England. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)

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