Impatience for a North American cap-and-trade system to curb greenhouse gas emissions has driven Ontario and Quebec to move ahead with their own plan to fight climate change, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday.

His Liberal government is introducing legislation that will pave the way for a cap-and-trade regime in the province, which aims to lower greenhouse gas emissions by putting a price on carbon.

"The reason that we are going to move ahead together with Quebec is because we can't wait for Washington or Ottawa to move ahead," McGuinty said.

"And we want to make sure we have in place a framework at least — before we can talk about putting a price on carbon … that allows Ontario businesses to know where the future is going to be."

The two provinces reached their own agreement on cap and trade last June, which was scheduled to be in place by 2010.

Quebec introduced legislation May 12 that would allow the government to institute a cap-and-trade system with co-operating states and provinces as early as 2012.

Details on plan yet to be announced

While Ontario's legislation was to be introduced Wednesday, it was still unclear how the system would work.

McGuinty couldn't provide specifics about how the system, such as whether the province will set hard caps on emission levels or penalize polluters who don't comply with the rules.

He also dodged questions about whether the province's worst polluters — its coal-fired generation plants — will be forced to bear additional costs under the system, which could be passed on to taxpayers.

Details of the plan are expected to be laid out in regulations that have yet to be drafted, but could be addressed in a discussion paper that will be released for public consultation.

A cap-and-trade system places a ceiling on greenhouse gases and lets participants buy and sell emissions permits within that cap. Those who don't meet the emissions targets can buy credits from others with a surplus, instead of lowering their emissions.

Ontario is the third province to move toward a cap-and-trade system after British Columbia and Quebec. Manitoba is expected to soon follow suit.

All four provinces, along with seven American states, are part of the Western Climate Initiative, which is trying to set up a regional cap-and-trade system by 2012.

Meanwhile, Ontario's coal-fired plants are not expected to be shut down until 2014.

The federal Conservative government has expressed interest in working with U.S. President Barack Obama to create a North American cap-and-trade system, but hasn't yet put a regulatory framework to reduce emissions into legislation, which is expected in the coming year.