If there’s a story you need to read this weekend, it’s Althia Raj’s look behind the scenes on how Steven Guilbeault’s resignation went down. It’s a tale of deception, freezing Guilbeault out during the process, undermining all of the work on climate action that had been done on this point, creating special carve-outs for Alberta that will piss off every other province, and breaking the word that had been given to Elizabeth May in order to secure her support. And then, they wanted Guilbeault to say some bullshit thing like he was “putting them on notice” until April or something like that, and it was untenable for him to stay, so he resigned. It was complete amateur hour. And Carney undermining his word is a very big problem, particularly because when he was a central banker, his word needed to be believed in order for it to have power. That’s why central bankers need to be ruthlessly apolitical, so that they don’t have the appearance of making calls for partisan benefit. Carney has undermined his credibility entirely because he has shown that his word now means nothing.

This point is disturbing: Guilbeault "was also deeply troubled by the ease with which the PMO was casting aside its moral obligation to May. What was the Liberals’ word worth?"Mark Carney seems to have forgotten the first rule of central banking: Your word, your credibility, is all.

— Blayne Haggart (@bhaggart.bsky.social) 2025-11-29T02:23:29.613Z

There are some particular threads in here that should be unpacked, which is that the motivation for this whole exercise seems to have been that they felt it “necessary for Canadian unity and to combat separatism in Alberta.” This doesn’t achieve that at all. It weakens unity because it gives Alberta special treatment that includes a lower carbon price and an exemption from other emission regulations that no other province gets, which makes it look an awful lot like they got it because the whined the loudest (and they’re not wrong). And it will do nothing about separatism because it fundamentally misunderstands it. It’s not about “unfair treatment,” because that was never the case—it was about a culture of grievance.

Albertans have been force-fed grievance porn for decades, like a goose being fattened for fois gras.You'll never guess what happens next…

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-28T22:43:39.019Z

To that end, Danielle Smith is at the UCP annual general meeting this weekend, and when she crowed to the crowd about all the things she secured from Carney—she got him to bend the knee, give her everything she wants, and she has to give up pretty much nothing in exchange—they booed her. Nothing any government will do will actually satisfy them, because they don’t know how to process success. They have been force-fed grievances by successive premiers as a way of distracting from their failures and the fact that they have tied themselves to the external forces of world oil prices, and it’s not giving them unlimited wealth anymore. They don’t have the same future they hoped for because world oil prices never recovered after 2014, and the industry is increasing productivity, laying off workers while increasing production. They’re angry about that, and they’ve been conditioned to blame Ottawa, ever since the 1980s when they blamed the National Energy Programme for a global collapse in oil prices, and they’ve been blaming Ottawa and anyone named Trudeau ever since. Jason Kenney in particular threw gasoline on that fire, and then pretended like he wanted to put it out by pouring a glass of water on that fire and patted himself on the back for it, and then Danielle Smith came in with a brand-new box of matches. There is no satisfying them, and Carney was a fool for thinking he could swoop in and be the hero. Now he’s alienating voters in BC and Quebec where he can’t afford to lose seats, for no gain in Alberta of Saskatchewan. He didn’t outplay Danielle Smith—he capitulated, and got nothing in return, just like every time he has capitulated to Trump.

Danielle Smith gets booed at UCP convention after mentioning working with Canada

— Scott Robertson (@sarobertson.bsky.social) 2025-11-28T22:17:35.805Z

Ukraine Dispatch

Russian drones and missiles attacked Kyiv overnight, killing at least one and injuring at least eleven. Ukrainian forces are still fighting in Kupiansk, in spite of Russian claims that they control the settlement. President Zelenskyy says that his chief of staff has resigned over the ongoing corruption investigations.

Good reads:

• Tim Hodgson had to apologise to coastal First Nations for suggesting they meet him by Zoom rather than his making an effort to meet them.
• Hodgson also says it’s “premature” to draw conclusions about the tanker ban, which is stupid because its evisceration is spelled out in the MOU.
• Anita Anand says that cuts at Global Affairs won’t affect consular access for Canadians who get in trouble abroad. (Those sound like famous last words…)
• Patty Hajdu signed a new $1.6 billion-over-five-years agreement with Saskatchewan to continue to grow their early learning and child care sector.
• The Fiscal Monitor shows the federal deficit at about $16.1 billion from April to September.
• The government may have been crowing over those GDP numbers, but they mask a whole lot of underlying weakness in the economy.
• The federal government has launched a public registry of its uses of digital asbestos, and there are over 400 projects already.
• The federal government will soon open a new operational centre to help coordinate efforts during national emergency situations.
• Here’s a look at why it’s not as easy as it sounds to outlaw lying in politics (though the piece lacks introspection into the media’s role in all of this).
• CPAC says they’re at the breaking point as they haven’t had a funding increase in 18 years, haven’t adjusted for inflation, and their systems are breaking down.
• The Supreme Court of Canada clarified the rules by which investors can sue companies when they don’t make material disclosures (like rock slides in mines).
• Doug Ford and Wab Kinew have signed an agreement to develop more cross-border electrical ties.
• Philippe Lagassé nuances the conversation about comparing the F-35s and Gripens around the various dimensions that are being considered and weighed.
• Supriya Dwivedi explains why it was important to refer to Canada’s foreign policy as feminist, and what it signals that Carney is moving away from that language.
• Susan Delacourt sees the MOU with Alberta and Carney as a response to Trump, forcing them together in this way.

Odds and ends:

Steven Guilbeault resigns from cabinet after Danielle Smith threatens to build new pipeline through his house

— The Beaverton (@thebeaverton.com) 2025-11-28T21:24:19.392Z

Hey BSers! Need a copy of my book, for yourself or for a holiday gift? @dundurnpress.bsky.social is having their holiday sale! Use code HOLIDAY25 to save 25% on this, or any Dundurn book. Check out my book #UnbrokenMachine, or the book I contributed a chapter to, #RoyalProgress.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-19T02:01:04.435Z

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