The existing plan he's undermining would cut emissions by seven times what the environment minister is proposing

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Steven Guilbeault has made clear that he plans to go out with bang, championing a record unsullied by compromise, pragmatism or achievement.

The activist environment minister released the draft regulations for a cap on oil and gas emissions on Monday, under the cover of blanket U.S. election reporting.

The minister’s rationale is that regulation is needed because profits in the sector have soared.

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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Guilbeault has a “deranged vendetta against Alberta” and promised to fight the cap in court.

Guilbeault knows the courts have already ruled that resources are a provincial jurisdiction and, deftly noted that his projections suggest that production will keep rising.

But it won’t rise at the pace that it would have, were there no cap. And the pain of those regulations will be felt in only one sector in one region of the country.

“Does it worry you that this will have a negative impact on the Alberta economy,” he was asked by CPAC’s Prime Time Politics host Michael Serapio.

“No, it doesn’t,” he replied. “What the government of Alberta is saying is not true.”

The cap was promised in the 2021 election and its outline has now been released, even though all involved in its preparation likely know it is an exercise in futility, given the political fortunes of the governing party.

But it is an instructive microcosm of how the Liberals have doomed themselves: driving on with divisive ideological commitments that defy common sense and leave voters behind.

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