After lecturing Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on electricity emissions, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is jetting off to China — presumably in a Canadiar jet — to seek ‘co-operation’ on environment issues..According to Guilbeault’s office, he’ll be in Beijing from Aug. 26 to 31 for the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED). .The group has been described as an independent think tank, but in reality it’s an arm of China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment, whose leaders are handpicked by the Communist Party.. GuilbeaultEnvironment Minister Steven Guilbeault, then and now. .Guilbeault is listed as “Executive Vice Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the CCICED alongside Ding Xuexiang, who serves as the chair of the CCICED and stands just behind Xi Jinping in the Communist Party hierarchy. ."The whole world is being confronted by the triple crises of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss," said a statement from Environment and Climate Change Canada.."These are crises that know no geopolitical borders and require urgent international cooperation. Addressing global environmental challenges requires China's engagement.".Not only does his visit come after he told off the premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan and essentially threatened to shut them down if they didn’t follow his proposed electricity regulations, it also coincides with calls for an inquiry into Chinese interference in Canada’s democracy.. Two Michaels .Guilbeault told the National Observer in an exclusive interview he wants to make China an ally in the fight against fossil fuels — notwithstanding that China consumes more than 50% of the the world’s coal to power its own grid. .In fact, coal accounted for abut 61% of the country’s electricity in 2022, although that figure is down from 80% in 2010. However, the absolute electricity production volume from coal hit an all-time high in 2022 and has quintupled since 2000..In his Observer interview, Guilbeault admitted he would likely be criticized for the trip — and indeed, he has been, from mainstream media outlets across the country..“Maybe some (political opponents) will try and attack me” for travelling to China amid tensions between the two countries, Guilbeault said..“I am clearly a lightning rod for some of them, but I think Canadians, in general, will understand how important it is. We can’t solve climate change, you can’t solve the international biodiversity issue, without working with countries like China.”
