Steven Guilbeault is the environment minister no more after incoming Prime Minister Mark Carney shuffled him to the culture portfolio. Carney was officially sworn in by the Governor General to replace Justin Trudeau early Friday morning, despite having never been elected by Canadians to hold a seat in Parliament.

Like Guilbeault, the former Bank of Canada governor has long supported the carbon tax. He earlier endorsed the central banker over his staunch support of the levy.

But since Carney launched his leadership campaign, he has taken a different stance. In his first speech as prime minister-designate, he promised to “immediately eliminate the divisive consumer carbon tax on families, farmers, and small and medium-sized businesses.”

Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman blasts Liberal front-runner Mark Carney for pretending to distance himself from the carbon tax while pushing "a new and bigger carbon tax," particularly "at a time where we're staring down tariffs." pic.twitter.com/Fko4yWw3fE

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) February 14, 2025

Pressure from Conservatives decimated support for the consumer tax, Guilbeault told reporters yesterday, in defence of the levy.

A new Leger poll commissioned by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) reveals that 64% of Canadians want the federal government to immediately suspend the levy.

“Unfortunately, due to the millions of dollars invested—largely in lies by the Conservative Party of Canada—it has become a controversial policy,” he said. Carney’s pledge to repeal the tax comes just weeks before a scheduled 19% tax hike on April 1. 

In response, Melissa Lantsman, deputy leader of the Conservative Party, accused Guilbeault of being “the biggest cheerleader of the Carney carbon tax.” She also claimed Carney was “sneakily” trying to tax Canadians, despite the promise to axe the tax.

“While the Carney-Trudeau Liberals focus on finding new ways to sneakily tax Canadians and make life more unaffordable for families, common sense Conservatives will axe the Carney carbon tax once,” MP Lantsman told Rebel News.

As Trudeau's carbon tax is set to increase on April 1, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault claims policies like this actually lower the cost of living.
"Taking climate action lowers our cost of living." https://t.co/PHR7jF0lJM pic.twitter.com/mqZUSEs3fr

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) March 15, 2024

Guilbeault, who spearheaded Canada's climate policies circa 2021, oversaw the country’s carbon tax system, which includes a consumer fuel levy and a separate trading mechanism for large industrial polluters.

The consumer tax is expected to be replaced with a comparable charge on industrial emitters, reported the Montreal Gazette. That promise remains up in the air as of writing.

“That’s one of the many reasons I endorsed Mark Carney to be our new leader,” Guilbeault emphasized. “I’ll be happy to continue working with him to ensure we continue advancing in Canada against climate change.”

Ultimately, his time as environment minister ended on a sour note, marked by controversies such as wildfire mismanagement and mislabeling plastic as “toxic.”

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has given up advocacy of the carbon tax, after pledging to cancel a 19% hike for April 1.https://t.co/sVZR8FquO1

— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) March 13, 2025

When asked how the Liberal government would fulfill its promise, given prorogation, Guilbeault did not explain further. “We’re looking into different options,” he told reporters on Tuesday. 

“Do we need to change the legislation? Can we go through the regulatory route? I don’t have answers for you.”

But with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau proroguing Parliament until March 24, it remains unclear whether the increase can be halted in time. 

The Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act outlines a planned carbon tax increase every April 1st, at the start of each budget year until 2030. Poilievre centred his attacks on the Liberal government around repealing the law.

If the current schedule continues, the fuel charge on a litre of gasoline would go from 17.61 cents now to 20.91 cents. Natural gas (18 cents), diesel and home heating oil (25 cents) would also face price hikes.

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