Meet the candidates who want to oust Steven Guilbeault from Parliament

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OTTAWA – Danielle Smith and Nimâ Machouf have very little in common. In fact, they may only share one thing: their dislike for federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.

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On the one hand, the premier of Alberta has repeatedly expressed her annoyance with the man who, according to her, “has a deranged vendetta against Alberta” and who once suggested to American polemist Tucker Carlson to put Guilbeault in his “crosshairs”.

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On the other hand, Machouf, who is a scientist and was at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic, is the NDP candidate trying to oust Guilbeault from Parliament.

Machouf has been canvassing for nearly a year, after being nominated in May 2024.

On the ground, people have been sharing their concerns with her, which echo those of most Canadians: cost of living, housing, the tariffs and jobs in an uncertain economy.

The environment is also on the minds of Quebecers and Machouf’s belief that Guilbeault hasn’t been strident enough on this file would surely find disagreement from the premier of Alberta.

Six years after first running for Parliament, the man who once climbed the CN tower to unfurled a banner that read “Canada and Bush Climate Killers”, who was a Greenpeace activist, and then the face of Equiterre in Quebec, is now the minister of a government that bought a pipeline in Western Canada, that authorized the Bay du Nord Development Project in the Atlantic Ocean, and that ultimately recognized that the consumer carbon tax was a failure.

“There is a lot of disappointment about what he has accomplished and what he has not accomplished,” said Machouf in an interview with National Post.

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“Each time, people saw that ultimately economic imperatives weighed more heavily, it would seem, for the minister of the environment than health and environmental imperatives,” she added.

However, he may not stay in that portfolio for long. According to multiple media reports, Guilbeault could be moved to another portfolio in incoming prime minister Mark Carney’s first cabinet. Guilbeault’s office declined an interview request for this story but did confirm that he will run for re-election.

Contrary to the criticism levelled at him by Smith and other Albertans, Guilbeault is not criticized in his Montreal riding for his overzealousness, but rather for his lack of results on environmental issues.

Welcome to Laurier-Sainte-Marie, the downtown Montreal riding represented for over 20 years by former Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe and by the NDP for eight years before Guilbeault’s election in 2019.

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It is a francophone riding where single people outnumber couples and families, where driving is often a nightmare, and where the left prevails over the right.

It’s a riding where the Bloc hopes to elect the historian and author Emmanuel Lapierre to reclaim this long-cherished riding.

His leader, Yves-Francois Blanchet, and many others in the riding have suggested this week that the population might ask themselves a couple of questions about their Liberal MP before election day.

“Indeed, local issues are going to be very, very important. We have major challenges in terms of social housing, homelessness and culture too,” said Lapierre.

But whether Lapierre or Machouf could beat an MP elected with 43 per cent of the vote in 2019 and 39 per cent in 2021 is another question.

In December and early January, Laurier-Sainte-Marie was almost locked for the NDP and Machouf was leading with about 35 per cent according to the polling aggregator 338Canada.

Philippe J. Fournier, head of the polling aggregator, said the situation has since reversed in the MP’s favour.

“If the Bloc Quebecois is not in the mid 30s, but in the mid 20s in Quebec, and we know that the Bloc Quebecois is lower in Montreal than the rest of Quebec, add to this, the NDP having big problems throughout Canada since the new year, it would really surprise me if Guilbeault were to lose this election,” said Fournier.

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“And I would not have told you that in January.”

But pollsters are clear about the Liberals’ recent surge in the polls: this is a very volatile environment for political parties.

“I mean, it’s clear that the polls are unfavourable at the moment, with a good margin,” said Lapierre. “So, I see this race as someone who goes to meet Quebecers, who takes their pulse and listens to their concerns, and I’m going to try as best I can to carry their voice.”

Machouf, who increased her support in the riding in 2021 to finish 9 points behind Guilbeault, believes that this time around, everything will go well. While projections show her trailing the minister by nearly 20 points, she hopes that progressives will switch their vote in her favour this time around.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives have no chance in this riding. Even though Guilbeault has become one of their main targets, some Conservatives hope he will win back his seat and continue to be their party’s punching bag. After all, it’s not every day that a Greenpeace activist sits at the cabinet table.

National Post

atrepanier@postmedia.com

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