One day after being appointed to cabinet, Liberal Canadian Culture Minister Steven Guilbeault is straying from his portfolio and wading back into the pipeline debate.
Guilbeault responded to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s criticisms of the Liberal cabinet, alleging that no companies are even looking to build pipelines in Canada.
“We will have to agree to disagree with Premier Smith. We think that protecting the environment and fighting climate change is important. Lots of Canadians believe that as well,” Guilbeault told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday. “It was a central element of our platform, and we will make good on our commitments.”
His comments came during his first media availability since being reappointed to cabinet following the federal election. Guilbeault kept his role as minister of Canadian identity, culture and official languages. His reappointment and the promotion of Guilbeault’s former parliamentary secretary, Julie Dabrusin, as environment minister attracted the ire of Smith.
“I am very concerned the Prime Minister has appointed what appears to be yet another anti-oil and gas environment minister, Julie Dabrusin,” Smith said in a post on X. “Not only is she a self-proclaimed architect of the designation of plastics as toxic, but she is a staunch advocate against oil sands expansion, proponent of phasing out oil and gas, and for the last four years she has served as the right hand to former Environment Minister and militant environmentalist.”
Smith argued that Alberta has “suffered” under the Liberals’ “anti-development and anti-resource” policies and expressed concern that the province will continue to battle a “keep it in the ground” approach to oil and gas.
But Guilbeault responded by saying governments don’t build pipelines, investors do and claimed no developers want to build pipelines in Canada.
“The Canadian energy regulator, as well as the International Energy Agency, are telling us that probably by 2028-2029 demand for oil will peak globally, and it will also peak in Canada,” Guilbeault told reporters. “So as far as I know, there are no investors right now. There are no companies that are saying that they want to build an east-west pipeline. And as you know, these things are built by companies, not government.”
He said Canadians should just use the pipelines they have already, before talking about new ones.
“People should remember that we bought a pipeline, Trans Mountain, and that is only used right now at about 40% capacity,” he said. “So I think before we start talking about building an entirely new pipeline, maybe we should maximize the use of existing infrastructure.”
The Liberal government initially estimated the Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline would cost $7.4 billion, but after purchasing it from Kinder Morgan in 2018, the final cost to taxpayers reached approximately $34 billion.
Private sector investors have raised concerns about investing in pipeline projects such as the TMX in Canada due to Liberal government red tape, such as the Impact Assessment Act, as reported by Reuters. Government delays due to regulations have also plagued the industry, making investors hesitant to build.
During the last election, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre blamed Liberals for making Canada vulnerable to the U.S. tariffs for blocking the Energy East and Northern Gateway pipelines and the government’s failure to approve new liquid natural gas plants.
Poilievre argued that had developers been allowed to build these projects, the U.S. wouldn’t be Canada’s near-sole customer of LNG.