OTTAWA - Environment Minister Jim Prentice says it may be a while before Canada starts regulating greenhouse gases as part of the battle against climate change.
Prentice says it will be difficult to regulate emissions until other countries, particularly the United States, decide how they will tackle climate change.
"In the absence of an international understanding, and in the absence of an international framework, it is difficult for any country to finalize domestic policies and put in place its domestic approach, whether that's regulatory approach or cap-and-trade or something else," he said Tuesday from Copenhagen.
"In the specific case of North America, there is no doubt that matters are complicated by the fact that there continues to be uncertainly ... about whether the United States Senate will pass a cap-and-trade system or not, and if they will, when they will do so...
"The challenge at this time is to harmonize on a continental basis with the United States, and to do that, we clearly are going to have to know where the United States is headed on those critical questions."
It had been hoped countries would agree on a climate-change deal next month in Copenhagen to replace the Kyoto Protocol. But a breakthrough looks increasingly unlikely and talks are expected to continue well into next year.
The Harper government has said it intends to wait for the Obama administration to get its environmental house in order before moving ahead with regulations. But Prentice now seems to be suggesting Canada's regulations will have to wait until a global climate-change deal is brokered.
"The international policies, the North American policies and Canada's own policies have to all fit together in a coherent way if we're going to get the environmental outcomes we want and protect the economy as well," he said.
The Conservatives aim to lower greenhouse gases 20 per cent from 2006 levels by 2020. But the start date for federal greenhouse-gas regulations has been delayed in recent years.
