Canada PM Trudeau faces split at national climate change summit

By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau on Monday met the country's provinces to hammer out a
national climate change strategy, but two major players signaled
they had reservations about the idea.
Trudeau's Liberals won an election last month promising a
radical change on the environment from the previous Conservative
administration, which was widely criticized for not doing enough
to combat global warming.
The half-day Ottawa summit brought together Trudeau and the
premiers of the 10 provinces to work out a common position ahead
of a United Nations environmental summit in Paris next week.
Trudeau says Canada must curb its emissions of greenhouse
gases to be taken seriously.
But Brad Wall, premier of the energy-producing province of
Saskatchewan, said any agreement had to find a balance between
the environment and protecting employment. Low crude prices have
triggered major job losses among energy industry workers.
"What additional impact will that have on the energy sector,
which is already suffering massive layoffs in our country?" he
told reporters before the summit.
Alberta, home to most of Canada's oil sands, said on Sunday
in a ground-breaking move that it would implement an
economy-wide tax on carbon emissions in 2017.
"It was an historic moment, a strong positive step in the
right direction," Trudeau said in opening remarks.
Trudeau and the provinces hope the summit and Alberta's move
will help dispel some of the international suspicion about
Canada and climate change.
Although the Conservatives had pledged to cut greenhouse gas
emissions to 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, government
figures show rising emissions mean the goal is out of reach.
Trudeau will not be going to Paris with a new target, but
has committed to coming up with a goal with the provinces within
90 days of returning from the talks.
Some provinces have started tackling the issue themselves
with carbon taxes or carbon pricing programs and do not like the
idea of Ottawa imposing a national goal.
"If we attempt to make it uniform from sea to sea to sea, it
will fail, obviously," said Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard.
Two government scientists told the summit that Canada's rate
of warming was about twice the global rate.
This means hotter summers with more forest fires, melting
permafrost and a smaller Arctic ice cover that will force polar
bears onto land as they search for food, they said.