HEILIGENDAMM, Germany - It would be costly and difficult for Canada to meet greenhouse-gas targets unless the United States also signs an international emissions treaty, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday.
Harper told the closing news conference of the Group of Eight summit that unless the United States, and ultimately Mexico, sign an international agreement, meeting such targets would penalize the Canadian economy.
"That could indeed undermine our ability to realize the goals we've set for ourselves," Harper said.
"It is difficult to meet targets if your major trading partner - and the partner with whom you share a common air shed - doesn't have targets," the prime minister said.
"It's a concern, it's why it's important for us to have the United States engaged."
Harper said he has presented this message to his G8 counterparts and at other world forums.
Harper has repeatedly said this week that the United States must be part of a global deal. On Thursday, he said that such an agreement could take months or years.
All G8 countries agreed this week to a need for binding greenhouse-gas emission targets monitored by the United Nations.
Harper said such a deal should operate like the current one used by the European Union, which has an overall target but allows for differences among member countries depending on their circumstances.
"They're a lot simpler if everyone does them," Harper said.
"If everyone does them, then there's nobody gaining competitive advantage as a consequence."
His argument about the potential competitive disadvantage echoes an argument made in Europe, although numerous European countries have already begun reducing emissions.
The French government wants to slap an import tax on goods from countries that fail to meet their Kyoto targets, saying it's unfair that their cleaner businesses must compete with those in countries with less stringent standards.
Harper expressed support for the concept that all economies must have a level environmental playing field.
"What Canadians want - Canadian workers, Canadian families and taxpayers - they want to see us reduce emissions in Canada as part of everybody getting those down," he said.
"What they don't want to see is us reducing emissions so that other countries can simply raise them and see the economic flow go out of Canada. I know that's not what they want."
Harper also responded to comments from Luc Bertrand, the head of the Montreal Stock Exchange, who said the Conservative government's climate-change targets are so weak that they would undermine efforts to launch a carbon-trading market.
Bertrand said companies have little incentive to invest in greenhouse-gas emissions based on those targets.
"Developing a Canadian carbon market is a challenge - we're aware of that," Harper said.
He said he wants to first launch a domestic trading system before signing on to the international one set out in the Kyoto Protocol.
He called carbon markets a good idea - as long as they produce real emissions cuts and not accounting "shell games."
