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Faced with British Columbia's groundbreaking new comprehensive carbon tax, Ottawa has reversed its opposition to a piecemeal approach to regulating greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.

Both Environment Minister John Baird and Resource Minister Gary Lunn yesterday declared that each province is free to chart its own course on tackling emissions.

In January, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty raised the perils of such an approach: "Generally speaking, the consensus I would say is that it is desirable in Canada not to have multiple regulators in various areas of the economy," he said when asked about emerging provincial carbon taxes.

Yesterday, Mr. Baird took a markedly different stand.

"What works in British Columbia may not necessarily work in Nova Scotia," he said. "What works in Ontario may not work in Alberta. Different provinces are coming forward with different approaches that suit their needs."

Mr. Lunn, speaking to reporters in Victoria, also dismissed concerns that British Colombia's aggressive approach to fighting global warming is contributing to an unworkable patchwork of regulations across the nation.

"The provinces are going to do different things," he said. "British Columbia may have a different model. It's working, and we'll recognize their contributions, as well. Alberta will do something different."

Quebec implemented a tax on carbon fuels last year, but the tax introduced in the B.C. budget on Tuesday is far broader, a first in North America.

The B.C. tax, effective July 1, puts a price on carbon-dioxide emissions starting at $10 per tonne. The measure, applicable to virtually all fossil fuels, is expected to add 2.4 cents to a litre of gasoline initially, rising to 7.2 cents by 2012.

Premier Gordon Campbell, speaking to reporters in Vancouver, said he doesn't expect Ottawa to implement a carbon tax any time soon.

"It's not part of what they are thinking," the Premier said.

B.C. Finance Minister Carole Taylor said British Columbia could not meet its climate-change targets without a carbon tax, but she refused to venture an opinion on how Ottawa could do the same without a similar tax.

"The carbon tax has to be part of the solution," Ms. Taylor said in an interview yesterday as she began her campaign to sell this week's provincial budget.

"If this were easy to do, you would see models everywhere ... It tells you it is not an easy thing to do, but it was our determination that it had to be part of the parcel or we would not meet our targets."

B.C. has pledged to cut one-third of its current greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, while Ottawa intends to reduce emissions in the same time frame by one-fifth.

Resource economist Mark Jaccard, a leading advocate of the carbon tax, said B.C.'s "courageous" move will force other jurisdictions to embrace a carbon tax eventually.

Mr. Jaccard, a technical adviser to Mr. Campbell on climate action, said B.C.'s tax makes it clear there is an economic price to be paid for battling global warming - something no politician in Canada has been willing to say until now.

"Since 1990, Canada has had six national plans to reduce GHG emissions.

With each plan, government told us emissions would fall - but they never did," he said.

"When John Baird or [Prime Minister] Stephen Harper says, 'I don't believe in taxes, but I care about the climate' there's a contradiction there. That's not an honest politician.

"We just got honesty in B.C., and I'm excited about it."

Federal Liberal environment critic David McGuinty - whose party does not support a carbon tax but is interested in studying the idea further - said Canada needs a cohesive plan.

"In the absence of federal leadership, the provinces are going to go it alone," he said.

"There will continue to be a smattering of approaches as long as the federal government does not really show some serious leadership here.

"The Prime Minister really should be convening a first ministers meeting strictly on the environment."

With reports from The Canadian Press, Bill Curry in Ottawa and Ian Bailey in Vancouver