Former cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault is reportedly resigning from Parliament after the Carney government’s latest deal with Alberta delayed a planned increase of the industrial carbon tax.

Liberal sources told iPolitics that Guilbeault could make his decision public as soon as tomorrow, though one parliamentarian said the Quebec MP hadn’t made up his mind when the two last spoke.

CBC News reported on Tuesday that Guilbeault would announce to his caucus colleagues tomorrow he was resigning as an MP. The Liberal caucus meets every Wednesday when the House is sitting.

Reaction to the news has been mixed.

When told that Guilbeault was preparing to leave, one former Liberal caucus member said “good riddance.”

Another Liberal source commended Guilbeault’s contributions in office and his role in caucus.

iPolitics is not identifying these sources because they’re not authorized to publicly speak on Guilbeault’s future.

When asked by reporters on Tuesday, Industry Minister Melanie Joly defended the government’s deal with Alberta but called Guilbeault a “good friend.”

Describing herself as belonging to the “environmentalist” wing of the Liberals, Joly said the deal with Alberta “makes sense” because it secured buy-in to Canada’s climate policy from the country’s “main energy producer.”

“You need to make it work. You need to be pragmatic,” she said, adding that Canada is facing an “energy crisis right now which is affecting the gas price across the country.”

Guilbeault resigned from cabinet in November after Prime Minister Mark Carney reached a deal with Alberta that could pave the pathway for a new pipeline to B.C.

A key condition of that deal was indefinite suspension of the clean electricity regulations provided an agreement on the industrial carbon price could be reached.

That agreement on the carbon price was announced earlier this month.

Matt Barnes, a former Liberal staffer, said Guilbeault’s slow break with the prime minister has been mostly “respectful,” with Guilbeault making his complaints in largely restrained op-eds or public comments to the media.

He said both Guilbeault and Carney “care a lot about the climate, but have different perspectives on how exactly to address climate change.”

Barnes, now a vice-president with the Oyster Group, said the Liberals shouldn’t face too much turbulence in Parliament if Guilbeault delays his resignation until the summer because the House isn’t sitting. The Liberals currently have 174 seats, a slim majority in the 343-seat Commons.

He said Guilbeault’s departure creates a “neat package” of four byelections that could held before the House resumes after the summer break in September.

Jonathan Wilkinson’s resignation to become EU ambassador will open up a vacancy in North Vancouver-Capilano, while Nate Erskine-Smith maintains he will resign his Beaches-East York seat as he contemplates a run for the Ontario Liberal leadership.

NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice said he will resign his Montreal seat to run in Quebec’s provincial election this fall.

Prior to his victory in 2019, Guilbeault’s Laurier—Sainte-Marie’s seat was held by the Bloc Quebecois and NDP.

But Carney’s popularity in Quebec and across Canada suggests the Liberals have a strong chance of holding the seat, said Barnes, who managed Danielle Martin’s byelection win in Toronto last month.

“I just came off a by-election, and what I can tell you from that experience is like the obviously in a different city, but he confidence in this prime minister, less so party lines… is quite significant,” he said.

“I think you know in all other respects he’s drawn a pretty big tent focused on national unity, and a lot of voters have made compromises, a lot of MPs have made compromises, and crossed the floor to join the Liberals.”

More to come…