John Baird defended his handling of the environment portfolio Tuesday as a leading environmental group filed a lawsuit aimed at forcing the Conservative government to live up to its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol.

Facing an at-times hostile parliamentary environment committee on Tuesday, Baird said the Tories' plan was an "ambitious policy package" that balanced Canadians' demands for action on climate change with the need to safeguard the country's economy.

"No one else is doing as much as we are," Baird said of the Tories' Turning the Corner plan, which sees Canada reaching its Kyoto emissions targets between 2020 and 2025, instead of 2012, the year laid out in the international plan to curb climate change.

Friends of the Earth launched the court challenge Tuesday, alleging Canada will likely be in "flagrant breach" of its international obligations under the climate-change treaty.

"You can't just do whatever you want," said Christine Elwell, a spokeswoman for the group. "You have laws. You have obligations."
  
Rob Wright, a lawyer for the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, said the group does not want the court to impose a climate-change plan on the federal government.

"We're not asking the court to tell the government precisely how to deal with climate change and greenhouse gases," he told reporters Tuesday in Ottawa.

"We are asking the court to tell the government that whatever plan they do come up with … [they must] comply with their legal obligation to our primary pollution prevention statute, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act."

New G8 deal needs U.S., PM says

During question period Tuesday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper faced more criticism from opposition leaders for remaining non-committal about whether Canada would side with the European Union or back the United States' attempts to water down a new international climate-change agreement.  

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion challenged Harper to "do what the science tells us to do" at next week's G8 meeting in Germany.

In response, Harper attacked Dion's own environmental record as the "worst in the world, worse than the United States," and said the government would ensure any future agreement included the world's biggest polluters, including the U.S., India and China.

"If we don't have that, we won't have an effective protocol," Harper said.

Meanwhile, U.S. President George W. Bush's environmental adviser said Tuesday that the White House rejects the EU's target for reducing carbon emissions.

Committee chair intervenes

During his appearance Tuesday before the environment committee, Baird insisted the Conservatives respect Kyoto, but again argued the emission-reduction targets are not achievable without devastating Canada's economy.

Opposition committee members again grilled Baird over his government's refusal to reintroduce the revamped bill C-30, the proposed clean air act that was overhauled by the committee, then shelved last month as the Tories announced new targets under the Turning the Corner plan.

Liberal environment critic David McGuinty, who has sparred with Baird on numerous occasions during committee hearings and in Parliament, classified Baird's tenure as "objectively, terribly disappointing," which drew bemused responses from Conservative committee members.

At one point, the committee's Conservative chair, Bob Mills, had to intervene to allow the environment minister to respond to McGuinty's repeated demand for the total amount of government spending this year on climate change.  

“How would you assess your performance in your portfolio?” NDP environment critic Nathan Cullen asked.

“I’m proud of it,” Baird said.

With files from the Canadian Press