VANCOUVER -- Provincial governments must stop posturing and get down to business today in swiftly calling on Ottawa to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, environmentalists say.
"They've had four years to start moving on plans so further delay is a real disservice to Canadians," says Gerry Scott, director of the climate change campaign for the Vancouver-based Suzuki Foundation.
Climate change is on the agenda at a meeting of federal and provincial environment and energy ministers in Victoria today.
The Kyoto Protocol is named after a United Nations convention on climate change negotiated by 150 countries in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997.
It requires most industrialized countries to reduce emissions of global warming gases by five to six per cent between 2008 and 2012 from their 1990 levels.
Canada's emissions are currently at about 14% above the 1990 levels.
Countries must ratify the deal before they are bound by its obligations. Some observers believe Prime Minister Jean Chretien will make an announcement about Canada's ratification of the international accord during a G-8 meeting in Kananaskis in June.
But several provinces have said that's too soon because Ottawa hasn't consulted with them about how the protocol will be implemented.
The bigger concern is how much it will cost because market-based measures must be taken to meet specific emission targets.
Last week on a trade mission in Moscow, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein startled Chretien and fellow premiers by producing a letter he suggested was signed by all premiers expressing their concerns about the protocol.
The issue escalated in the House of Commons on Friday as federal Environment Minister David Anderson was attacked by both supporters and opponents of the protocol.
Anderson repeated previous assurances that Ottawa will not ratify the treaty without intensive consultation. He did not return calls for an interview about his plans for today.
Alliance MPs quoted an Alberta government estimate that costs could run as high as $40 billion annually, while New Democrats urged Anderson to be more aggressive in disputing that estimate.
Steven Guilbeault, spokesman for Greenpeace Canada, said it's time Ottawa began consulting with the provinces before making any moves to ratify Kyoto.
"If the government were to say, 'We're ready to ratify Kyoto,' then people would stop whining about it and sit down and figure out how we're going to do it," he said.
B.C. Energy Minister Richard Neufeld said the federal government hasn't kept its promise to consult with the provinces and hasn't let Canadians know what costs are involved in ratifying Kyoto.
"Does that mean it's going to cost you an extra 20 bucks when you gas up your car because the price of gasoline goes up?" Neufeld asked.
"The public don't have this on their radar screen. They think Kyoto is clean air, which it is, but it's also a cost."
People may end up paying significantly more for gasoline and electricity, for example, Neufeld said.
Saskatchewan Energy Minister Andrew Thomson said the federal government needs to present provinces with a plan today on how it wants to reach the targets set out in the Kyoto agreement.
"We're concerned that at this point Ottawa has not brought forward an analysis of the impact on the economy," Thompson said.
An equitable solution among all provinces is needed to meet the targets, taking into consideration the differences in each province's economy, he said.
Despite the fact Alberta is Canada's leading greenhouse-gas emitter, all provinces need to share the cost of ratifying Kyoto, said Lorne Taylor, Alberta's environment minister.
"We only utilize 15% of the energy we produce," he said. "The rest is utilized either in the rest of Canada or the U.S."
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