Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault — seen at the COP26 environmental summit in Scotland last November — is defending the government’s approval of Bay du Nord. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

The federal government seemed to go out of its way Wednesday to not make a big deal out of the announcement the Bay du Nord offshore oil megaproject had cleared what may be its biggest hurdle: environmental assessment approval.

That decision was expected last year. Then it was pushed back to March, and then pushed back again to this week.

When made, the decision was certainly not