Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has called for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to fire Canada’s Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault.
In an interview with CTV on Friday, Smith was asked about a recent Nanos Research survey that showed nearly half of Canadians want an election to be called either immediately or some time in 2024.
Smith said before anything happens there should be an “immediate change in the Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.”
She added: “So they can start there and then we’ll see when we go to an election.”
The United Conservative Party Premier wasn’t critical of all Liberal ministers, claiming that she’s worked well with Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland as well as Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne on certain projects.
“But we can’t work with Steven Guilbeault,” she said.
Smith calls Guilbeault a “national embarrassment”
Last month, Smith called Guilbeault a “national embarrassment,” days after he proposed draft regulations that will require at least a 75% reduction of methane emissions from the oil-and-gas sector by 2030, compared to 2012 levels.
“Minister Guilbeault must work with us, and not against us, to keep cutting methane emissions and charting a course for carbon neutrality by 2050,” the statement read.
In a strongly worded joint statement, Smith and Alberta’s Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz criticized Ottawa’s unilateral move to establish the new methane emissions rules, labeling them as an attempt to secure international headlines.
The statement emphasized that managing emissions from Alberta’s oil and gas industry is a constitutional right and responsibility held by the province, not Ottawa.
“Instead of building on Alberta’s award-winning approach, Ottawa wants to replace it with costly, dangerous and unconstitutional new federal regulations that won’t benefit anyone beyond Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault’s post-office career,” it read.
The Trudeau Liberal government aims for carbon neutrality in the electricity sector by 2035. This means provinces would need to eliminate power generation carbon emissions by then. Premier Smith opposes this, fearing it could harm Alberta’s energy industry, instead suggesting 2050 as a reasonable timeframe.
Smith recently mocked Guilbeault for starting consultations on a potential national plastics registry.
