Fire Guilbeault

Fire Guilbeault

Steven Guilbeault’s latest comments have him in hot water… again.

This time, he accused Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe of “immoral” law-breaking for refusing to remit carbon tax on natural gas heating to Ottawa.

“We can’t let that happen. What if somebody tomorrow decides that they don’t want to respect other federal laws, criminal laws?

What would happen then if a prime minister, a premier of a province, would want to do that?”

Putting aside the fact the Prime Minister has repeatedly been found to be offside with the law by the Supreme Court recently, did no one on Guilbeault’s team advise him against this line of attack?

After all, this is the same guy who was convicted of a criminal offence for climbing the CN Tower and causing $50,000 of damage during a protest.

(He escaped another conviction a year later when he broke into Premier Ralph Klein’s property and terrified his wife, who thought he was a home invader.)

And, it’s not like this is Guilbeault’s only recent brain fart.

In fact, it’s just the latest in a string of embarrassing outbursts from Canada’s embattled Environment and Climate Change Minister.

Just a few weeks ago, he blurted out that the federal government was going to stop investing in roads completely.

Later, after realizing that his comment was clearly out of touch with not just the general public, but his own government, Guilbeault was forced to make an embarrassing “clarification” that he’d only been talking about “large” road projects. 

The Liberal government was forced to further “clarify” Guilbeault’s remarks to make it clear that there had been no changes to the federal road funding policies, whatsoever.

Premier Danielle Smith noted:

“Does this minister understand that most Canadians don’t live in downtown Montreal? Most of us can’t just head out the door in the snow and rain and just walk 10km to work each day.”

At what point is this government going to wake up and realize they are destroying their own credibility?

The obvious move for the federal government, you would think, would be to fire Guilbeault.

We’ve been saying it for a while.

Under his leadership, the Department of Environment and Climate Change has undertaken a series of foolish proposals that are severely impacting the ability of Canadians to stay ahead of a growing affordability crisis.

Here’s a brief recap:

• Guilbeault’s Clean Electricity Regulations are outright unconstitutional and are going to strangle Alberta’s electricity grid and send your utility bills through the roof.  
• The impending federal “Just Transition” is going to legislate thousands of oil and gas jobs out of existence, replacing them with less available green energy jobs that pay less, forcing more Albertans to scrape the bottom of the barrel when it comes to employment opportunities. 
• There is a looming emissions cap on the oil and gas sector, which would restrict producers from increasing their oil and gas production, because it's effectively a production cap.
• Let’s not forget his nonsensical idea to ban gas-powered car sales by 2035.
• And, rounding out the list, a ban on single-use plastics and the designation of plastic as a toxic substance was just the latest of his plans to be ruled unconstitutional by the courts.

One might say Canada’s Environment Minister is not the sharpest tool in the shed.

But, using a figure of speech is apparently not allowed anymore, either.

You may remember, when Alberta Premier Danielle Smith echoed our call for Guilbeault’s firing, saying that Guilbeault should be “in the crosshairs” of Tucker Carlson.

Guilbeault’s response was to accuse Smith of inciting political violence.

That’s just dumb.

The inability to distinguish between a metaphor and a literal statement isn’t why the Environment and Climate Change Minister should be fired.

But, it has become clear as day that it’s time for him to take a walk in the snow.

His remarks are emblematic of a tired government, stuck in neutral while public opinion piles up against them.

Reasons for him to stay are as difficult to find as a needle in a haystack.

It’s time for Justin Trudeau to see the light and Fire Steven Guilbeault.