EDITORIAL: Who’s in charge, Carney or Guilbeault?

Does Carney have the commitment to stand up to a campaign by Trudeau-era, anti-growth Liberals?

Published May 12, 2026  •  2 minute read

Liberal MP Steven Guilbeault. Photo by Hyungcheol Park /Postmedia Network

When it comes to who determines Canada’s energy policy, we assume it’s Prime Minister Mark Carney and not former environment minister Steven Guilbeault.

Article content

It is important to know, because Carney’s stated goal of making Canada a conventional and clean energy superpower at “speeds not seen in generations” means environmental activists within and beyond the Liberal party are going to oppose him at every turn.

Article content

Recommended Videos

Article content

Guilbeault told the Toronto Star recently that Carney’s plan to streamline the approval process for major infrastructure projects is “worse than what (Stephen) Harper did,” the ultimate insult for a Liberal MP talking about a Liberal prime minister.

Guilbault’s views reflect those of many environmental ideologues who Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, welcomed into the Liberal government, including activist non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which the Trudeau government funded and whose often unrealistic advice it sought on climate change.

To accomplish his goal of a revitalized economy, Carney is going to have to make decisions that increase Canada’s industrial greenhouse gas emissions, a sharp change in direction from someone who, before he became prime minister, was the world’s leading corporate spokesman for higher carbon taxes.

Article content

As examples, Carney’s memorandum of understanding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to build an oil pipeline from Alberta to the B.C. coast and his decision to cancel EV mandates are counter-intuitive to green orthodoxy.

If Carney’s rhetoric is sincere, that’s good, because it means he recognizes the key role that Canada’s vast oil and natural gas resources must play to achieve Canadian energy security and the ability to chart our own economic course, without being dependent on any other nation.

The concern, given Carney’s past views on these issues, is whether he has the commitment to stand up to a campaign by Trudeau-era, anti-growth Liberals, that led to a lost decade of economic productivity from 2015-25.

Carney has the political capital to spend on doing this if he uses it — his high approval rating with Canadians and the fact he literally saved the jobs of the vast majority of Liberal MPs, who were heading into oblivion in last year’s election before he succeeded Trudeau.

But if he bails in the face of internal opposition, it will mean the Guilbeault wing of the Liberal party will still be running the government.

Read More

1. 

   EDITORIAL: Fossil fuels key to Canada’s future

2. 

   EDITORIAL: Unintended outcomes of radical new laws

Article content