Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said on Monday that the federal government will stop investing in new road infrastructure - a remark that immediately drew attacks from opposition conservatives and some police officers who said the climate activist turned politician has become out of touch.

Guilbeault later clarified his remarks, telling reporters on Wednesday that he meant to say Ottawa will not put money into "big" road projects, saying, "Of course, we fund roads. We have programs to fund roads."

Guilbeault said on Monday that the federal government will be there to support provinces that pay for maintenance, but Ottawa has decided that the current road infrastructure is "more than sufficient to meet our current needs."

Guilbeault explained, according to The Montreal Gazette: "There will be no envelopes from the federal government to enlarge the road network."

"We can achieve our economic, social, and human development goals without expanding the road network."

Guilbeault said the federal government is determined to get people out of their cars and onto public transit, which the government has spent billions of dollars building."

He said the federal government also wants to encourage "active transportation," meaning getting people to walk and bike.

The minister said that federal money spent on asphalt and concrete for roads in the past is "better invested in projects that help fight climate change and adapt to its effects."

No funding for "big projects"

Guilbeault told reporters today, defending his remarks, that he should have been "more specific."

He pointed to the long-standing third link that Quebec City wants as a single project that will not receive funding from Ottawa.

He said about Quebec: "What we said, and maybe I should have been more specific, is that we don't have money for big projects like the '3EME Lien' that the Quebec government has been trying to do for many years." 

A senior government official told CBC News that there are no changes to federal policy ".

The government has spent large amounts on roads in the past.

The "Gas Tax Fund," renamed by the Liberals as the Canada Community Building Fund, routinely delivers billions of dollars to provinces and municipalities to support the construction and maintenance of highways, roads, and local bridges.

Conservative MP Mark Strahl, the party's transport critic, said Guilbeault's talk about no more money for new roads is "disgraceful" and an insult to people who rely on cars to get to and from work.

Strahl added, "This is not something that a lot of Canadians do, to simply say we won't allow any federal money to go into this specifically, it is controversial and fits with what this government is doing."

Strahl said, "But you have to expect that from someone who expanded the CN Tower, climbed to the top of the Prime Minister's house, and was led away in handcuffs, this is the kind of extremism it's about," referring to Guilbeault's past activism that led to arrests for stunt activities.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, a frequent critic of Guilbeault, said on social media that the minister does not understand that many Canadians live in remote and rural areas where transit is not well developed.

Smith said, "Most of us can't just walk out the door in the snow and rain and walk 10 kilometers to work every day."

Guilbeault's comments raised questions about the future of Ford’s promised Highway 413 project, a new highway in the northwestern part of the Greater Toronto Area that would connect major arteries in the region and ease travel between booming areas like Vaughan and Brampton.

Ontario argued that the project must be fast-tracked because population growth in these Toronto suburbs requires more infrastructure to reduce congestion.

Environmental advocates and some local groups strongly opposed the 60-kilometer highway because it would cut through farmland, waterways, and pave over parts of the province’s protected Greenbelt.

Long review

In this context, the federal government decided in 2021 that the project would be subject to an Ottawa impact assessment, meaning it would undergo a stricter and longer environmental review.

Canada’s Impact Assessment Agency, which conducts these reviews, sends reports to Guilbeault.

Late last year, Ford said if Brampton Liberal MPs don’t support the project, they risk losing their jobs in the next election because voters there want to see highways like this built.

He said, referring to his party’s win in the 2022 provincial election: "Just look at what happened when the 413 highway succeeded for Liberal and NDP candidates here in Brampton—they were swept out because they disagreed with the 413."

Mixed record in courts

Guilbeault has pursued an ambitious climate agenda since taking office in 2021; he is a keen supporter of the federal carbon tax plan to discourage the use of fossil fuels like oil and gas and is a key minister in pushing the country’s green electricity grid.

Guilbeault’s clean electricity regulations require the country’s grid to be net zero by 2035. This is an elusive goal for provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan where coal and natural gas are the main fuel sources for power generation.

Premiers in those provinces have described the measure as a judicial overreach by Ottawa and have vowed to fight it.