Trudeau defends environment minister in face of Smith’s calls to remove him

After meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday, Premier Danielle Smith acknowledged to reporters that she told him she believes Alberta’s relationship with Ottawa could be “greatly improved” if he removed Steven Guilbeault from his position as Canada’s minister of environment and climate change.

“I think he knows that Minister Guilbeault is not my favourite minister, but I did let him know that I have a great relationship with several of his other ministers,” she said at an afternoon news conference in Edmonton. “I did feel like I should tell him in person what I’ve been saying publicly, just so that there wasn’t any miscommunication on that.

“I do feel like our relationship would be greatly improved if we had a different point person in that file who is a little more pragmatic, and someone who was willing to work with us, like some of the other ministers are.”

Hours earlier, Smith met with Trudeau in Calgary to discuss a broad range of issues, including a planned carbon price increase. It was a meeting she said she personally requested with him. Shortly after that meeting, Trudeau took questions from reporters and was asked about the discussion of his environment minister and whether Smith was persuasive with her comments.

“I have tremendous faith and confidence in my environment minister, and if people are having trouble getting along with him, maybe they need to look at their own approach to these big (environmental) issues as opposed to looking at what he’s talking about, which is consistent with building a better future for everyone,” he said.

Guilbeault has served as the federal environment minister since before Smith became premier of energy-rich Alberta in October 2022. Since then, she has vocal in her