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Longtime Quebec environmental activist Steven Guilbeault has resigned from federal cabinet citing conflicts over a potential pipeline project in Western Canada and prompting renewed debate about the place of activists within government.
Guilbeault, former environment minister under Justin Trudeau and prominent member of Mark Carney’s cabinet, said he could not continue in his role while Carney is paving the way for the project.
Most recently, he had been serving as official languages minister, the minister of Canadian identity and culture — and Carney's Quebec lieutenant.
For years, Guilbeault was a major player in the Liberal Party, but experts say his departure underscores a paradox activists face: navigating personal convictions while advancing a larger political agenda.
“It's just not a workable compromise,” said Dónal Gill, a Concordia University political science professor. If someone insists on strict principles, he explained, trying to gain support across the country’s diverse regions, economies and cultures requires compromising far too much.
When Guilbeault first entered federal politics in 2019, he won a downtown Montreal riding and was immediately a high-profile figure due to his long career as an environmental activist.
As head of the lobby group Équiterre, he had been a vocal opponent of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, a project the Trudeau government purchased in 2018 to ensure its continuation despite widespread opposition.
WATCH | Balancing principles vs. compromise in politics:The former federal environment minister and climate advocate left cabinet over Canada's new bitumen pipeline plan. His resignation underscores the tension activists face in politics, balancing principles with compromise.Bound by solidarityRegardless of his environmental credentials, Guilbeault was first given the heritage portfolio in 2019, a move viewed by some Quebec environmentalists as a concession to Western Canadians.
At the time, Karel Mayrand, head of the Quebec branch of the David Suzuki Foundation, said "the first symbolic gesture of this government is to hide an ecologist at heritage because they're afraid of bothering Alberta.”
As a cabinet minister, Guilbeault was bound by the principle of cabinet solidarity, limiting his ability to publicly dissent from government policy, even on issues central to his activism.
Karel Mayrand is head of the Quebec branch of the David Suzuki Foundation and CEO of the Trottier Family Foundation. (Christian Côté/Radio-Canada)On Friday, Mayrand, who has known Guilbeault for 25 years, told CBC News that his resignation shows he was not able to push his climate agenda.
“It's as if the entire architecture of the federal climate plan is at risk now,” said Mayrand, also CEO of the Trottier Family Foundation.
Patrick Bonin, Bloc Québécois environment critic, said Carney has backtracked on campaign promises.
“The green veneer has fallen away,” he said. “It's oil-black under the clothes.”
Bonin, a former spokesperson for Greenpeace, said he will continue pushing for stronger climate policies with the Bloc Québécois.
Gill noted that many activists believe environmentalists are more effective influencing from outside formal government structures rather than making compromises from within.
Drawing the line at pipelineAs for Guilbeault, he made it clear why he stepped down from cabinet in a Thursday social media post.
“I chose to enter politics to champion the fight against climate change and the protection of the environment,” he wrote.
Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith signed an agreement earlier Thursday that lays out how Ottawa will facilitate the construction of a pipeline that will carry a million barrels of oil a day from Alberta's oil patch to an export terminal on the Pacific coast, where that product will be shipped mostly to Asian markets.
“I remain one of those for whom environmental issues must remain front and centre. That’s why I strongly oppose the memorandum of understanding between the federal government and the government of Alberta,” Guilbeault said.
Despite his resignation, Guilbeault said he will stay on as a Liberal MP. Green Leader Elizabeth May has already called on him to join her caucus.