Canada Proposes Bill on Gas Emissions

Canadian Environment Minister Rona Ambrose discusses her Clean Air Act at a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2006. (AP Photo/CP, Tom Hanson) (Tom Hanson - AP)

TORONTO -- Canada's government introduced legislation Thursday that would cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, a target date that prompted critics to declare that Ottawa has effectively abandoned the international Kyoto accord on climate change.

The proposed Clean Air Act, intended to counter claims that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is soft on the environment, sets no short-term targets for cutting greenhouse emissions. In the long term, it says the government would seek to cut emissions 45 to 65 percent by 2050.

Under the Kyoto accord, Canada pledged to cut its emissions by 6 percent from 1990 levels by 2012. The country's emissions are now 30 percent above 1990 levels.

The legislation, which must be passed by the House of Commons, is certain to get a rough ride from opposition parties who say the Act is far too weak and makes no reference to Canada's commitments under the Kyoto treaty. "What we can see now is that no matter what the government says about not pulling out of Kyoto, we officially pulled out of Kyoto today," said John Bennett of the Sierra Club of Canada.

"There is no intention now to even try to achieve what we had pledged; we have decided to abandon our international commitment," he said.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May agreed: "Canada stands alone repudiating Kyoto."

Environment Minister Rona Ambrose defended the legislation, saying it would give Ottawa "new and stronger powers to do the things we need to do to protect the health of Canadians and our environment."

"We will be the first federal government to introduce mandatory regulations on all industry sectors across Canada to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases," Ambrose told a news conference in Ottawa.

The government intends to introduce regulations to reduce emissions from motorcycles, outboard engines, all-terrain vehicles and off-road diesel engines, but could not say what proportion of Canada's emissions come from those sources, or by how much they would be reduced.

Ambrose said Canada would synchronize its regulations with those of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, establishing new rules for the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks by 2010.

Critics countered that EPA regulations are grossly outdated that that environmentalists south of the border have long criticized them as soft on big polluters.

"The U.S. standards date back to the 70s and they're falling badly behind other countries; the United States is not a leader in this area," said Ken Ogilvie of Pollution Probe, an Ottawa-based environmental group.

As for Canada's large industrial emitters, which account for about half of the country's greenhouse pollution, Ambrose called for three years of consultation. The previous Liberal government already held three years of consultations on the regulation of large emitters.

Aaron Freeman of Environmental Defense, a Toronto-based group, lamented that federal officials had now pushed back any chance of firm regulations another three years.

"We think that we need more action and less talk," he said.

The Clean Air Act would transfer a number of substances previously defined as toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act to a new category labeled "air pollutants."

"We listened to Canadians. They told us they were concerned about worsening air quality and increasing emissions of greenhouse gases," said Ambrose. "After more than a decade of inaction on the environment by the previous government, Canada's Clean Air Act is the first step in turning things around to protect the health of Canadians."