Steven Guilbeault

Friday February 3, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday February 3, 2023

Federal Environment Minister might intervene in Ontario’s Greenbelt development plan

October 28, 2021

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says he might try to stop some of the development that could result from Ontario’s plans to allow housing on once-protected Greenbelt lands, warning that the province’s move defies efforts to prepare for climate change.

The Minister made the remarks at a news conference in Toronto on Thursday, while responding to questions from the environment-focused online publication The Narwhal.

Mr. Guilbeault was taking aim at Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s move last month to remove 3,000 hectares from the Greenbelt – an 800,000-hectare protected area of farmland and countryside that arcs around the Greater Toronto Area – to allow developers to build 50,000 homes. The plan would also add 3,800 hectares elsewhere to the protected area. Mr. Ford had previously promised that he would not open the Greenbelt to development.

Mr. Guilbeault did not detail specifically what he is considering doing, but he said Ontario’s plan “flies in the face of everything we’re trying to do in terms of being better prepared for the impacts of climate change.”

The Narwhal says the Minister warned that the federal government “will be looking at the potential use of federal tools to stop some of these projects.”

November 9, 2022

Mr. Guilbeault suggested he could use federal species-at-risk legislation if any proposed development threatened the survival of vulnerable animal populations. The federal government did this in 2016, when it blocked a housing development in a Montreal suburb over concerns about western chorus frog habitat.

“You can imagine that if similar projects were to be proposed on lands that were part of the Greenbelt, then I have a legislative obligation to intervene,” Mr. Guilbeault said, according to the Narwhal.

He also mentioned Ottawa’s Impact Assessment Act, which is already being used to scrutinize Mr. Ford’s Highway 413, a proposed expressway that would carve through Greenbelt land.

The sharp federal criticism of the Ontario Premier emerged just days before a Feb. 7 meeting between Canada’s premiers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to hash out a health care funding deal.

January 12, 2023

Mr. Guilbeault was speaking at an event marking $8-million in federal funding for nature conservation projects. He also had harsh words for the Ontario government’s plans to restrict the powers of the province’s local conservation authorities to intervene in ecologically sensitive development plans. He called the legislation “terrible” and said he was “saddened and shocked” by the changes.

Last month, Parks Canada said the opening of Greenbelt lands close to the Rouge National Urban Park, on the eastern flank of Toronto, could cause “irreversible harm” to the park’s wildlife and ecosystems. (The Globe & Mail) 

 

Thursday October 28, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday October 28, 2021

New environment minister faces questions about past activism

Canada’s new environment minister says his past as an activist should not raise alarms in the energy industry or the office of Alberta’s premier.

April 20, 2019

“I don’t have a secret agenda as environment minister,” Steven Guilbeault said today after the first meeting in Ottawa of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new cabinet. “It’s a government effort to tackle … what many consider one of humanity’s greatest challenges, which is climate change.”

Guilbeault said the government’s plan to fight climate change is “very clear” and most of it — such as carbon pricing and the push for more public transit and cleaner energy sources — is “already known.”

January 26, 2021

The Trudeau government has committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.

Before entering electoral politics in 2019, the Quebec MP co-founded Équiterre, a Quebec-based environmental organization, and was the director of a provincial chapter of Greenpeace. He spoke out against pipeline projects, including the Trans Mountain expansion.

May 14, 2019

Guilbeault also took part in stunts to draw attention to environmental causes.

In 2001, Guilbeault was arrested after scaling Toronto’s CN Tower to raise awareness of climate change. In 2002, he was involved in a Greenpeace stunt that saw activists climb onto the roof of then Alberta premier Ralph Klein’s house to install solar panels.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said Tuesday that Guilbeault’s appointment to the environment portfolio sends a “very problematic message” to the province.

April 11, 2018

“I certainly hope that [Guilbeault] … will quickly demonstrate to Alberta, and other resource-producing provinces, a desire to work together constructively on practical solutions that don’t end up killing hundreds of thousands of jobs,” Kenney said.

Asked about Kenney’s comments, Guilbeault said oil companies already recognize that more needs to be done to tackle climate change and that many already have agreed to hit net-zero emissions by 2050. He also noted that the new mayor of Calgary, Jyoti Gondek, wants the city to declare a climate emergency.

Canadians made it clear in the recent federal election campaign that they want “not just the federal government but all governments to do more” to address climate change, he said. (CBC)