The premiers of Ontario and Quebec say a cap-and-trade system on greenhouse gas emissions is inevitable, and will be watching closely to decide whether to take similar action on a program being developed by Manitoba and British Columbia.

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell said Tuesday his province will work with Manitoba to develop a cap-and-trade system on greenhouse gas emissions.
(CBC)

The announcement came at the end of a two-day summit of premiers and territorial leaders, who spent most of their time discussing climate change strategies.

B.C. and Manitoba will spend the next several months gathering information and developing the architecture for a cap-and-trade program, an aspect of the Western Climate Initiative.

The system, expected to materialize by August, could put strict limits on the amount of greenhouse gases individual polluters can release. Industries exceeding the caps would pay fees to those under their limits.

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell said that while Ontario and Quebec will remain observers of the cap-and-trade initiative for now, they may decide to move in a similar direction down the road.

"We're really basically sharing information as we go through," he said during a news conference at the end of the Council of the Federation conference in Vancouver.

In addition, premiers and territorial leaders agreed Tuesday to establish a forest review, water agenda and flood-management program in their respective regions. Campbell said leaders will regroup to discuss their plans at their next session, scheduled for July in Quebec City.

"I felt like today was an important day. We recognized there are broad issues of national agreement that we have across the country," Campbell said.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty will host a summit of scientists within the next few weeks in order to establish best practices for the initiatives, as well as to identify existing information that will be useful to the projects' design.

Campbell said that each province aims to have work plans, as well as terms of reference and a schedule, prepared for July's meeting so leaders can take the next steps toward implementing their respective initiatives.

"I think all of us were seized with the fact that we have to get the info together as quickly as possible," he said.

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams indicated his province was interested in a cap-and-trade program, as were a number of others.

He noted that Alberta would likely not participate in such a program, which the western province opposed at a previous premiers conference in August.

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, centre, attends the unveiling of the British Columbia and Canada pavilion along with other premiers on Monday.
(Jonathan Hayward/ Canadian Press)

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach was the only leader absent from the summit's second day of meetings. He was represented by Environment Minister Rob Renner, who denied Alberta was at odds with the rest of the provinces.

"Some choose to go through the mountains, some go around the mountains and some go over, and at the end of the day, we all end up in the same place," Renner told CBC News from Vancouver. "I don't see Alberta being out of synch with the rest of Canada."

Tuesday's meetings came a day after Stelmach defiantly defended his province's climate change plan before leaving the forum, telling his counterparts that Canada's economy relies on oil from Alberta.

Critics were quick to criticize Alberta's plan to cut emissions by 14 per cent by 2050 as too slow and too expensive. Under the plan, a significant reduction in overall CO2 emissions won't be made until 2020, and emissions could rise before then.

They point out the plan set forth by neighbouring British Columbia aims to cut carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

But Stelmach said Canada's dependence on Alberta's oil-rich economy means the province will need extra time to pursue its own plan. He warned that too much pressure on the oil industry could result in job losses.

Earlier Tuesday, Campbell said all parties tried to work together during Monday's talks, despite taking different approaches.

"Alberta's going to be a very active player," Campbell told CBC News.

With files from the Canadian Press