Ford dismisses federal minister as ‘real piece of work’

Premier Doug Ford is dismissing federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault as “a real piece of work” over his claim Ontario has no plan to fight climate change.

In a rare display of tension between Queen’s Park and Ottawa, Ford blasted Guilbeault on Thursday after the federal minister’s criticism of the province’s long-standing opposition to carbon pricing.

“Oh, boy, that guy’s a real piece of work, isn’t he?” Ford said.

“I find it ironic. We want to do EV vehicles and we have a great relationship with the federal government,” Ford said, referring to joint federal-provincial initiatives on projects like the Volkswagen battery factory in St. Thomas.

Ford noted that in conjunction with Ottawa, the province is helping move Dofasco and Algoma off of coal-burning production and onto the electricity grid as part of a socalled “green steel” initiative. That will phase out one of Canada’s largest carbon emitters and is a key part of the Ontario’s pitch to lure electric vehicle companies here.

On Wednesday in Ottawa, Guilbeault attacked Ford for saying federal carbon-pricing policies were hurting families.

“A family of four in Ontario will get almost $1,000 back from the federal carbon pricing system and I find it incredibly rich coming from a premier who has no plan to fight climate change,” the minister said.

Guilbeault, a former Greenpeace activist who federal sources privately concede can be a loose cannon when it comes to dealing with Ontario, has expressed concern over plans to open up 7,400 acres of the two million-acre Greenbelt to housing development.

Along with Alberta and Saskatchewan, Ford’s government took its opposition to federal carbon pricing to the Supreme Court of Canada where it lost in 2021.