National
Trudeau’s environment minister proclaims himself ‘proud socialist’ before House of Commons
From LifeSiteNews
Steven Guilbeault made the declaration during a debate about the impact of carbon tax policies on soaring energy bills
Minister of Environment Steven Guilbeault proudly proclaimed before the House of Commons on Tuesday that he is a “proud socialist” during a debate over a carbon tax the federal government has imposed on Canadians that has contributed to sky-high energy bills.
“I’m a Liberal and a proud socialist,” Guilbeault said after being asked a question by Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) MP Ted Falk concerning the carbon tax.
Guilbeault then blamed former conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper for not “believing” in “climate change” as a reason the current conservatives do not support a carbon tax.
“This reminds me of a certain quote from Prime Minister Harper who talked about the fight against climate change as a socialist plot,” he said.
“Here it is, you have it again, Mr. Speaker. They do not believe that climate change is an issue. They do not believe we should do anything about it.”
Where did he say this? I would love to share the clip.
— Nicholas Grillo🍎🍎 (@nicholas_grillo) November 7, 2023
Falk had said to Guilbeault before his “socialist” response that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has created a “carbon tax” coalition with other socialist and separatist entities in Canada to cause financial pain for Canadians.
“After eight years, we now have the socialists, the separatists, and this prime minister who’s just not worth the cost,” Falk said.
“They’re all part of this costly carbon tax coalition that is leaving Canadians out in the cold.”
Trudeau has many times before blamed Harper for his government’s ills, it should be noted.
Reaction to Guilbeault’s comments came swiftly from many Canadian political pundits and others.
“Steven Guilbeault isn’t just a ‘proud socialist,’ he’s a total nutbar, climate extremist and incompetent minister,” wrote Paul Mitchell, a former People’s Party of Canada candidate and political commentator on X (formerly Twitter).
“Every provincial premier should demand that Guilbeault be sacked. Dealing with him is intolerable.”
Jim Murphy, a retired Toronto police officer, wrote on X, “I’m a bit confused, shouldn’t @s_guilbeaultbe a member of the NDP and not the @liberal_party? Serious question.”
The carbon tax has been a hot topic in the House of Commons, notably after Trudeau announced about two weeks ago he was pausing the collection of the carbon tax on home heating oil for three years but only for Atlantic Canadian provinces. The current cost of the carbon tax on home heating fuel is 17 cents per liter. Most Canadians, however, heat their homes with clean-burning natural gas, which will not be exempted from the carbon tax.
Trudeau’s carbon tax pause for Atlantic Canada announcement came amid dismal polling numbers showing his government is likely to be defeated in a landslide by the Conservative Party in the next election.
As a result, the CPC under leader Pierre Poilievre introduced a motion calling for the carbon tax to be paused for all Canadians. This motion was voted down on Monday by the Liberals with support from the Bloc Quebecois.
The New Democratic Party (NDP) voted in support of the CPC motion, despite the fact they have an informal coalition with the party that began last year, agreeing to support and keep the Liberals in power until the next election is mandated by law in 2025.
As for Guilbeault, he is perhaps Trudeau’s most radical minister in terms of his extreme environmental views. He recently said the Liberal government was going to push ahead with net-zero emission regulations despite the fact Canada’s Supreme Court recently ruled against the federal government’s “no more pipelines” legislation.
Earlier this year, the CPC slammed Trudeau for having Guilbeault accept an invite from China for climate talks.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been a staunch opponent of Trudeau’s net-zero regulations and praised the court decision as returning power to the provinces.
Guilbeault has a history of environmental activism. In 2001, he was arrested after scaling the CN Tower in Toronto as part of a stunt for Greenpeace.
The CPC has previously called out extreme views emanating from the Liberal Party.
In September, Poilievre called Trudeau and his father Pierre Elliot Trudeau “Marxists” when asked by an Ontario resident what could be done to help prevent Canada from going “down” due to Liberal policies.
LifeSiteNews reported last month how Trudeau’s carbon tax is costing Canadians hundreds of dollars annually, as the rebates given out by the federal government are not enough to compensate for the increased fuel costs.
The Trudeau government’s current environmental goals – in lockstep with the United Nations’ “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” – include phasing out coal-fired power plants, reducing fertilizer usage, and curbing natural gas use over the coming decades.
The reduction and eventual elimination of the use of so-called “fossil fuels” and a transition to unreliable “green” energy has also been pushed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) – the globalist group behind the socialist “Great Reset” agenda – an organization in which Trudeau and some of his cabinet are involved.
From Resource Now
Alberta renews call for West Coast oil pipeline amid shifting federal, geopolitical dynamics.
Just six months ago, talk of resurrecting some version of the Northern Gateway pipeline would have been unthinkable. But with the election of Donald Trump in the U.S. and Mark Carney in Canada, it’s now thinkable.
In fact, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith seems to be making Northern Gateway 2.0 a top priority and a condition for Alberta staying within the Canadian confederation and supporting Mark Carney’s vision of making Canada an Energy superpower. Thanks to Donald Trump threatening Canadian sovereignty and its economy, there has been a noticeable zeitgeist shift in Canada. There is growing support for the idea of leveraging Canada’s natural resources and diversifying export markets to make it less vulnerable to an unpredictable southern neighbour.
“I think the world has changed dramatically since Donald Trump got elected in November,” Smith said at a keynote address Wednesday at the Global Energy Show Canada in Calgary. “I think that’s changed the national conversation.” Smith said she has been encouraged by the tack Carney has taken since being elected Prime Minister, and hopes to see real action from Ottawa in the coming months to address what Smith said is serious encumbrances to Alberta’s oil sector, including Bill C-69, an oil and gas emissions cap and a West Coast tanker oil ban. “I’m going to give him some time to work with us and I’m going to be optimistic,” Smith said. Removing the West Coast moratorium on oil tankers would be the first step needed to building a new oil pipeline line from Alberta to Prince Rupert. “We cannot build a pipeline to the west coast if there is a tanker ban,” Smith said. The next step would be getting First Nations on board. “Indigenous peoples have been shut out of the energy economy for generations, and we are now putting them at the heart of it,” Smith said.
Alberta currently produces about 4.3 million barrels of oil per day. Had the Northern Gateway, Keystone XL and Energy East pipelines been built, Alberta could now be producing and exporting an additional 2.5 million barrels of oil per day. The original Northern Gateway Pipeline — killed outright by the Justin Trudeau government — would have terminated in Kitimat. Smith is now talking about a pipeline that would terminate in Prince Rupert. This may obviate some of the concerns that Kitimat posed with oil tankers negotiating Douglas Channel, and their potential impacts on the marine environment.
One of the biggest hurdles to a pipeline to Prince Rupert may be B.C. Premier David Eby. The B.C. NDP government has a history of opposing oil pipelines with tooth and nail. Asked in a fireside chat by Peter Mansbridge how she would get around the B.C. problem, Smith confidently said: “I’ll convince David Eby.”
“I’m sensitive to the issues that were raised before,” she added. One of those concerns was emissions. But the Alberta government and oil industry has struck a grand bargain with Ottawa: pipelines for emissions abatement through carbon capture and storage.
The industry and government propose multi-billion investments in CCUS. The Pathways Alliance project alone represents an investment of $10 to $20 billion. Smith noted that there is no economic value in pumping CO2 underground. It only becomes economically viable if the tradeoff is greater production and export capacity for Alberta oil. “If you couple it with a million-barrel-per-day pipeline, well that allows you $20 billion worth of revenue year after year,” she said. “All of a sudden a $20 billion cost to have to decarbonize, it looks a lot more attractive when you have a new source of revenue.” When asked about the Prince Rupert pipeline proposal, Eby has responded that there is currently no proponent, and that it is therefore a bridge to cross when there is actually a proposal. “I think what I’ve heard Premier Eby say is that there is no project and no proponent,” Smith said. “Well, that’s my job. There will be soon. “We’re working very hard on being able to get industry players to realize this time may be different.” “We’re working on getting a proponent and route.”
At a number of sessions during the conference, Mansbridge has repeatedly asked speakers about the Alberta secession movement, and whether it might scare off investment capital. Alberta has been using the threat of secession as a threat if Ottawa does not address some of the province’s long-standing grievances. Smith said she hopes Carney takes it seriously. “I hope the prime minister doesn’t want to test it,” Smith said during a scrum with reporters. “I take it seriously. I have never seen separatist sentiment be as high as it is now. “I’ve also seen it dissipate when Ottawa addresses the concerns Alberta has.” She added that, if Carney wants a true nation-building project to fast-track, she can’t think of a better one than a new West Coast pipeline. “I can’t imagine that there will be another project on the national list that will generate as much revenue, as much GDP, as many high paying jobs as a bitumen pipeline to the coast.”
This article supplied by Troy Media.
Canadians must consider how closer EU ties could erode national control and economic sovereignty
As Prime Minister Mark Carney attempts to deepen Canada’s relationship with the European Union and other supranational institutions, Canadians should be asking a hard question: how much of our national independence are we prepared to give away? If you want a glimpse of what happens when a country loses control over its currency, trade and democratic accountability, you need only look to Bulgaria.
On June 8, 2025, thousands of Bulgarians took to the streets in front of the country’s National Bank. Their message was clear: they want to keep the lev and stop the forced adoption of the euro, scheduled for Jan. 1, 2026.
Bulgaria, a southeastern European country and EU member since 2007, is preparing to join the eurozone—a bloc of 20 countries that share the euro as a common currency. The move would bind Bulgaria to the economic decisions of the European Central Bank, replacing its national currency with one managed from Brussels and Frankfurt.
The protest movement is a vivid example of the tensions that arise when national identity collides with centralized policy-making. It was organized by Vazrazdane, a nationalist, eurosceptic political party that has gained support by opposing what it sees as the erosion of Bulgarian sovereignty through European integration. Similar demonstrations took place in cities across the country.
At the heart of the unrest is a call for democratic accountability. Vazrazdane leader Konstantin Kostadinov appealed directly to EU leaders, arguing that Bulgarians should not be forced into the eurozone without a public vote. He noted that in Italy, referendums on the euro were allowed with support from less than one per cent of citizens, while in Bulgaria, more than 10 per cent calling for a referendum have been ignored.
Protesters warned that abandoning the lev without a public vote would amount to a betrayal of democracy. “If there is no lev, there is no Bulgaria,” some chanted. For them, the lev is not just a currency: it is a symbol of national independence.
Their fears are not unfounded. Across the eurozone, several countries have experienced higher prices and reduced purchasing power after adopting the euro. The loss of domestic control over monetary policy has led to economic decisions being dictated from afar. Inflation, declining living standards and external dependency are real concerns.
Canada is not Bulgaria. But it is not immune to the same dynamics. Through trade agreements, regulatory convergence and global commitments, Canada has already surrendered meaningful control over its economy and borders. Canadians rarely debate these trade-offs publicly, and almost never vote on them directly.
Carney, a former central banker with deep ties to global finance, has made clear his intention to align more closely with the European Union on economic and security matters. While partnership is not inherently wrong, it must come with strong democratic oversight. Canadians should not allow fundamental shifts in sovereignty to be handed off quietly to international bodies or technocratic elites.
What’s happening in Bulgaria is not just about the euro—it’s about a people demanding the right to chart their own course. Canadians should take note. Sovereignty is not lost in one dramatic act. It erodes incrementally: through treaties we don’t read, agreements we don’t question, and decisions made without our consent.
If democracy and national control still matter to Canadians, they would do well to pay attention.
Isidoros Karderinis was born in Athens, Greece. He is a journalist, foreign press correspondent, economist, novelist and poet. He is accredited by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a foreign press correspondent and has built a distinguished career in journalism and literature.
Troy Media empowers Canadian community news outlets by providing independent, insightful analysis and commentary. Our mission is to support local media in helping Canadians stay informed and engaged by delivering reliable content that strengthens community connections and deepens understanding across the country.
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