The minister of the environment Wednesday presented the country with a series of options for meeting its global warming commitments without gutting the economy.

"The question is no longer should Canada act, but how Canada should act," David Anderson said. "We can't afford the status quo."

The plan, called "A Discussion Paper on Canada's Contribution to Addressing Climate Change," lists four broad policy options, each of which Anderson said would allow Canada to meet its obligations under the Kyoto protocol on climate change.

David Anderson

Option one would create a broad cap on industrial emissions. Companies would get carbon permits. They could then buy and sell the permits to meet their limits.

Option two is based on government spending, using public money to invest in public transit, tax incentives, and other regulations, to force Canadians to burn less fossil fuel.

Option three and four are combinations of the above, with Canada also taking part in an international emissions trading system, to get greenhouse gas emissions down at least on paper.

Jamie Heath

The objective is to get Canada's greenhouse gas emissions 6 per cent below 1990 levels. Canada's emissions are 20 per cent higher than they were 12 years ago.

Anderson could not say how much these options would cost the country. And although he promised the measures would not mean job cuts, he did say they would probably affect future economic growth.

"Nobody loses a job in the existing economy in any of these options," said Anderson. "What might be the concern is some future growth might not take place."

The province most at risk for future growth is oil-rich Alberta, followed by Ontario. Alberta Environment Minister Lorne Taylor says that means every option carries an unfair burden for those provinces.

"If you look right now at the two economies, the two provinces that are paying the shot for this whole country, it's Alberta and Ontario."

David Anderson plans to present his paper to his provincial counterparts next week. Between June 7 and June 21, workshops on the issues will be held in 14 cities across the country.

An issue sure to generate a lot of discussion at the workshops is the government's demand to be credited for its forests and for exporting clean energy such as natural gas.

That, some environmentalists say, is a demand that leaves the government a door to use if it decided to back out of the accord.

"We're looking at an escape clause a few months down the road," said Jamie Heath, of Greenpeace. "They will say the world wouldn't give us what we wanted, so we couldn't implement Kyoto."

The European Union is opposed the credits proposals, and Greenpeace doesn't believe that will change.

"Basing a plan on getting more concessions will fail because the world has had enough of Canada asking for more," added Greenpeace's Stephen Guilbeault.