This week’s court decision against Canada’s Environment Minister, Steven Guilbeault, is but one of many he’s lost. 

On Monday, the Government of Saskatchewan secured an emergency order blocking Guilbeault’s Carbon Tax collectors from seizing the provinces capital reserves.

The judicial smackdowns are starting to stack up, and with Trudeau’s unlimited army of bureaucratic lawyers behind Guilbeault, the taxpayer subsidized legal bills are overwhelming.

In light of this, The Counter Signal has retrieved and carefully documented each legal humiliation the infamous Environment Minister has faced for the everyday Canadian’s reading pleasure.

July 8, 2024: Saskatchewan wins court order against feds’ carbon tax collection

This week’s ruling was the most recent.

Saskatchewan Minister Dustin Duncan stated the court sided with the the little guy, halting what they see as unlawful federal actions.

This is part of a broader conflict over carbon tax payments and exemptions. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe argues the province has already paid the necessary amount and criticizes exemptions given by the feds for heating oil, which few in Saskatchewan use.

Effective January 1, Moe instructed SaskEnergy to stop charging the federal carbon tax on natural gas for home heating.

Monday’s temporary injunction is a win for the province, but a thorough hearing on the issue is forthcoming.

October 13, 2023: Impact Assessment Act stuck down

In a 5-2 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against Guilbeault’s Impact Assessment Act (IAA). The IAA gave Guilbeault power over provinces, allowing the feds to veto major energy and infrastructure projects such as power plants, airports, and pipelines, as long as the feds could argue the projects had negative social or environmental impacts.

The judges ruled that the IAA was largely unconstitutional. The court found that the Act overreaches Parliament’s legislative authority and fails to appropriately target federal jurisdiction, upholding Alberta’s challenge. 

The Alberta government took the lead in opposing the IAA. Numerous Conservative politicians in Alberta, such as former premier Jason Kenney, referred to it as the “no more pipelines” act. 

Later, Premier Danielle Smith referred to it as the “don’t build anything Act.” Smith called the court decision a “massive win.”

November 16, 2023: Court overturns Liberal’s ban on single-use plastics 

Another crushing blow to Guilbeault, the Federal Court overturned one of his favourite cabinet orders: the single-use plastics ban.

The judge said the order was “both unreasonable and unconstitutional.” 

Guilbeault tried to sneak plastic manufactured items into the “toxic” category under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. 

But the judge determined there was insufficient evidence that plastics are toxic. 

September 11, 2023: Court rules Guilbeault unblock Rebel News’ Ezra Levant, pay him $20k 

After Steven Guilbeault blocked Rebel News Editor-in-Chief Ezra Levant on social media, Levant sued him, arguing that he had a right to access Guilbeault’s government account as “it was a government service like any other.”

Judge Russel W. Zinn ordered Guilbeault to unblock Levant’s X account while serving as a Member of Parliament.

“Cost of the application shall be payable by the Respondents to the Applicants in the total fixed amount of $20,000 (all inclusive), payable within 90 days of this order,” Zinn stated. 

Levant celebrated the victory, calling Guilbeault a “deadbeat” and a “crook.” 

June 11, 2024: Federal judge rules Guilbeault violated his duties 

A federal judge determined that Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault had violated his duties under the Species at Risk Act by taking excessively long—more than eight months—to suggest an emergency protection order for the northern spotted owl, which is endangered in British Columbia. 

Despite the owl’s impending risks from old-growth logging, the court concurred with the Wilderness Committee and criticized Guilbeault for the delay. 

Radical past

The most embarrassing of all, perhaps, Minister Guilbeault was charged in 2001 for scaling the CN Tower, where he put up a poster that read “Canada and Bush Climate Killers.”

The twenty-something year-old photo of the Environment Minister, then-Greenpeace activist, handcuffed with a deranged smile, remains one of the more infamous photos of any Canadian politician. 

The next year, Guilbeault trespassed onto then-Premier of Alberta Ralph Klein’s property and installed solar panels on his roof while his wife was home.