By ZOE MASON on July 17, 2026.
NEWS PHOTO ZOE MASON
The closing conference for the annual meeting of Canada’s environment ministers saw provincial and federal ministers present a united front on the country’s environmental policy, despite frequent and considerable divergences between Ottawa and Alberta on policy.zmason@medicinehatnews.com
Environment ministers from the 10 Canadian provinces and the federal government met in Calgary this week, and in a closing press conference Wednesday, they celebrated a, “shifting landscape” in environmental decision-making.
Alberta Environment Minister Grant Hunter says the selection of Calgary as their meeting place was symbolic of a new direction in Canadian environmental policy.
“At the heart of Canada’s energy sector, meeting here sends a clear message, Canada is ready to build again,” Hunter said.
He says the focus of the two day conference was finding a balance between economic growth and environmental protection.
“The most important takeaway from our meeting is that these are not competing objectives,” Hunter said. “That represents a significant shift in the national conversation.”
Against the backdrop of another severe wildfire season, blanketing the city of Toronto with the worst air quality in the world on Wednesday, Hunter stood firm that the council’s takeaway was that environmental stewardship needs to make more room for economic expansion.
“Look, we’ve had wildfire seasons throughout the history of our country, and that will not stop. Where we think our value proposition is is that the world will need more Canadian energy.”
Premier Danielle Smith, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford took a similar tack in news conferences announcing two major pipeline projects last week.
Federal Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin, who replaced former environment minister Steven Guilbeault in December, concurred with Hunter’s conclusions, but added an affirmation that Ottawa has not veered from its long-term goals regarding carbon neutrality.
“We are absolutely committed to reaching net zero by 2050. I want to be very clear about that,” she said.
The annual meeting of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment comes on the heels of an announcement that Ottawa, Alberta and the Oilsands Alliance reached an agreement on the multi-billion dollar Pathways carbon capture project.
The agreement inked July 2 represents a substantial rollback from the scope of the Pathways project first proposed in 2021, with objectives reduced from 10 to 12 megatons a year by 2030 to six megatons by 2035.
Hunter insists that his government has not, “lost the narrative.” Rather, he says reducing those targets was necessary to maintain Canada’s competitiveness on the international stage so Canada’s energy production can continue to expand.
The provincial and federal environment ministers also touched on their divergence on Ottawa’s 30-by-30 conservation strategy.
Canada was one of 195 countries that announced plans to protect 30 per cent of its land by 2030 in April, but Alberta rejected the strategy, arguing that according to the province’s own definition of conservation, Alberta already surpassed that goal.
Alberta argued that all Crown land – including land used for commercial forestry and oil and gas exploration – qualified as protected.
“Minister Dabrusin and I maybe are defining it a little different, so I don’t hold that against her,” said Hunter.
At Wednesday’s news conference, Hunter used ranching as an example of land that is in commercial use but remains protected by private sector stewardship.
Debrusin says such an approach would in fact meet federal guidelines, falling under the “other effective area-based conservation measures” category.
“I think this is exactly the kind of space where we can work together with provinces and territories in recognizing the good stewardship of so many Canadians,” she said.
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