OTTAWA — Conservative Environment Minister Rona Ambrose vowed yesterday to get tough with oil producers and auto makers when the government introduces its plan to deal with smog and climate change this fall.
“I believe strongly that the time of asking industry politely to do the right thing is over,” she said in an interview with The Globe and Mail.
Despite her tough talk, environmentalists worry that the government will set standards that allow greenhouse-gas emissions to keep rising, though at a slower pace, in contrast to Canada's commitments to reduce them to 1990 levels.
While the Conservatives have played down the climate-change issue, Ms. Ambrose promised yesterday to regulate levels of greenhouse gases that are linked to global warming, as well as smog-causing pollutants.
Ms. Ambrose responded for the first time to Thursday's report from Environment Commissioner Johanne Gélinas, who slammed the previous Liberal government for failing to “take on” the transportation and heavy industry sectors. Ms. Gélinas said those sectors are responsible for 78 per cent of greenhouse gases yet the Liberals depended on a voluntary deal with the auto sector and had “no meaningful programs” to tackle emissions from Alberta's oil sands.
Ms. Ambrose said her plan will regulate greenhouse-gas emissions and smog-causing pollutants from those two sectors.
“This will be the first time the federal government addresses both air pollution and greenhouse gases from a national perspective and that will include every industrial sector, including the oil-and-gas sector,” she said.
“We need to particularly focus on the two sectors — and I've been working on this all summer — where we can make the most environmental gain and that's the oil-and-gas sector and the transportation sector. So obviously both will be a part of our plan,” she said.
In a separate interview with CTV Newsnet, Ms. Ambrose said the plan would include financial penalties.
Oil industry sources said yesterday the Tories intend to set standards to reduce “energy intensity” in the sector, an approach that would reduce emissions for every barrel produced.
That approach, which is favoured by the Alberta government and the industry, would see emissions continue to rise as oil-sands development booms, but would slow the pace of the growth.
Environmentalist Pierre Sadik of the David Suzuki Foundation said Ms. Ambrose's strong language “sounds promising” but requires tough action to be credible.
“It has to lead to meaningful cuts in pollution emissions,” Mr. Sadik said. “Regulations in terms of intensity are a waste of time because emissions continue to rise.”
Ms. Ambrose was in Alberta on Thursday, along with Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn and Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Jim Prentice, meeting with industry groups.
Along with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Ms. Ambrose and Mr. Prentice are both from Alberta, where greenhouse-gas emissions from the oil sands could double between 2004 and 2015, according to Ms. Gélinas's report.
While the plan will call for short-and longer-term targets and timelines to meet them, Ms. Ambrose indicated such details would not be laid out in the bill but rather would be worked out later through consultations.
Pierre Alvarez, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said the industry is prepared to work with the Conservative government to control greenhouse-gas emissions.
But he said the industry wants to ensure Ottawa is consistent with provincial plans, including ones being proposed by Alberta, and does not penalize any one sector.
“We just want to make sure we are treated no differently than any other sector — no section of the country, no sector should be treated unfairly,” Mr. Alvarez said. He added that just treatment would not require the oil industry to reduce emission levels absolutely, but would focus on “intensity.”
Another executive who was in the meeting with the Tory ministers said the industry people were generally happy with the approach of the government, but are worried the investment community may balk at suggestions the companies will face additional cost pressures.
“They need to come up with some language that communicates to Bay Street that they understand the need to provide clarity and certainty, and are not going to leave the Canadian economy in the lurch.”
