There is some damage control happening, as environment minister Julie Dabrusin is making the rounds on the weekend political talk shows to insist that the MOU with Alberta is not abandoning climate action, and that the clean electricity regulations, for example, are not being carved out, but given more flexibility for each province to come up with equivalency plans. That might be more believable if Danielle Smith wasn’t doing a victory lap claiming that it was being scrapped (after she lied about what it entailed for the past several years).

Meanwhile, I have to question the editor who let this particular CBC headline run over the weekend: “Do activists have a role in government? Steven Guilbeault’s resignation raises questions.” Seriously? Activism is the lifeblood of politics, and that includes roles within government (meaning Cabinet). We don’t live in a technocratic state where bureaucrats are governing and making policy decisions. Activism is what gets people involved, precisely because they have issues that they care about and want to make change. That’s part and parcel of the system.

What this winds up doing is trying to paint Guilbeault as some kind of zealot unable to make compromises, which is again, something that is not borne out by the facts. Guilbeault ran for the Liberals federally after the Trans Mountain decision. He was very much seen as a pragmatist within the environmental movement. The piece mentions that he was first given the heritage portfolio and wasn’t immediately slotted into environment, but that was also something Trudeau started doing more broadly, to give someone somewhere to get their training wheels on and learn how to deal with how government works before giving them the portfolio from their previous career, because it didn’t always go well from his first Cabinet when he tried to simply slot subject-matter expertise into Cabinet roles where they may wind up being captured, or simply not suited in spite of all appearances (*cough*Jody Wilson-Raybould*cough*). The whole piece is just poorly conceived and written, and someone should have exercised more editorial oversight.

Ukraine Dispatch

Russia launched nearly 600 drones and 36 missiles at Ukraine overnight Saturday, killing six and wounding dozens, while knocking out electricity to much of Kyiv. Ukrainian naval drones struck two Russian tankers as part of their “shadow fleet” used to evade sanctions. Reuters tracked a cohort of 18-24-year-olds fighting in Ukraine; none of them are fighting any longer.

https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1995035870307483725

Good reads:

• The Canadian military is grappling with changing its thinking to a more long-term perspective now that they have more secure funding.
• The head of the UN’s HIV/AIDS programme is calling on Mark Carney not to cut foreign aid and global health funding, after the budget contains first-ever cuts.
• The Canadian Press interviews Stephen Saideman about his new book about civilian oversight of the military, and why Canada is so very bad at it.
• Grassroots Conservatives are trying to put new rules into place that will limit the ability of the party leader to interfere in nomination races.
• Doug Ford wants Carney to “show the west some love.” (Seriously?)
• The Globe and Mail has a longread into just who is Sam Mraiche, who is at the centre of so much of the Alberta government’s procurement scandals.
• Danielle Smith plans to wave her “Sovereignty Act” magic wand to try and defy the federal gun buyback programme.
• David Eby says he’s open to a different pipeline option so long as the tanker ban remains in place, meaning it would need to be another southern route.
• Kevin Carmichael finds reasons for optimism in the Alberta-Ottawa MOU, seeing it as a return to long-term thinking and dealing with shared challenges.
• My weekend column looks at how Mark Carney bent the knee to Danielle Smtih with that MOU and got nothing for it as a result.

Odds and ends:

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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