Although Canada cannot meet its obligations for cutting emissions of greenhouse gases under the Kyoto protocol, the government will not rush to set new targets of its own, Environment Minister Rona Ambrose said on Thursday. Critics said her remarks showed the governing Conservatives -- who since winning a January election have repeatedly said Kyoto will not work -- plan to drag their feet on addressing the problem of climate change.

The Conservatives power base is in the energy-rich western province of Alberta, where emissions are rising rapidly as companies open up vast oil sands deposits for development. Ambrose said the government would put in place a regulatory framework with legally binding emissions targets for major polluters such as the energy industry and automakers. "It will clearly involve, and must involve, short-term, medium-term and long-term targets," she told Parliament s environment committee. "But what I will tell you is that this government will not set arbitrary targets without consultations with industry, provinces and territories." She gave no details of what the targets would be or when they would come into effect. Some officials say the consultation period could last up to five years.

Ottawa told auto industry chief executives on Tuesday that it planned to impose mandatory vehicle emissions standards after a current voluntary agreement expires in 2010. Ambrose, who says reducing air pollution is her main priority, is due to unveil a clean air act later this month. "A clean air act will waste five more years for Canadians. Our air will not improve," said Nathan Cullen, a legislator from the left-leaning New Democrats. "Im starting to doubt the Conservatives actual intention of delivering anything on the environment during this Parliament," he told reporters. The minority Conservatives are in a delicate position, since polls show most Canadians approve of Kyoto.

Legislators voted on Wednesday to urge the government to stick to its Kyoto targets, which oblige Canada to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 6 percent from 1990 levels by 2012. Current emissions are almost 35 percent above that target. A federal election is widely expected early next year and once the campaign starts, draft legislation such as the clean air act would automatically die.

The effects of climate change are particularly evident in Canada s vast Arctic, where the indigenous Inuit people say melting ice and warming temperatures threaten their survival. "Inuit are one of the last hunting cultures on earth and we are seeing the destruction of our way of life. Thunder storms in winter, robins in the summer and ice that freezes later and later every year," Inuit elder Peter Irniq told a news conference in Ottawa. "We have come all this way to sound the alarm."
(Por David Ljunggren, Planet Ark, 06/10/2006)