VICTORIA — Liberal Leader Stephane Dion wasn't always quite so hot about global warming, a former cabinet colleague says.

Indeed, David Anderson says that when the previous Liberal government initially signed on to the Kyoto climate change accord in 1998, Dion was more focused on keeping the peace with the provinces, most of which were dead set against meeting the pact's targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"Dion was intergovernmental affairs minister, and he had to make sure that we had harmony among provinces, and provinces were opposed," Anderson, a former Liberal environment minister, told The Canadian Press in an interview.

"So he was cast in that role."

Under the circumstances, Anderson said he found Dion to be "pretty supportive" of Kyoto and "quite often very, very helpful" in dealing with recalcitrant provinces.

Still, in Anderson's estimation the only political leader who has remained solidly consistent in support of Kyoto is Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe, followed closely by former prime minister Jean Chretien and then Dion.

Dion won the Liberal leadership two months ago, casting himself as a crusader for environmental sustainability. Since then, he's championed stiff measures to cut emissions, including introducing a motion last week calling on the Conservative government to meet the Kyoto targets.

In an interview, Dion said he always had the "conviction" that Kyoto was good public policy. But his role as intergovernmental affairs minister meant he also had to negotiate with provinces and try to minimize irritants.

"Do not present me as an opponent," he said. "I was an ally, an ally but a complex ally because I wanted to work through a process that would deliver better policy at the end of the day.

"My aim was not to have harmony with the provinces. It was to have good policy for Canadians. But most of the time good policy comes with harmony."

Dion said his role was no doubt frustrating to Anderson and other cabinet colleagues who wanted to take constitutional short cuts or intrude on provincial jurisdiction. But he said he always maintained that "to succeed we need to have as much as possible provinces on board," since implementation of Kyoto would require co-operation of the provinces, which have sole jurisdiction over energy.

Anderson recalled that provincial opposition was vehement in Saskatchewan, Ontario, British Columbia and particularly Alberta, where then-premier Ralph Klein threatened a constitutional challenge and charged that the accord was a scam to rob the province's oil wealth. Anderson said the Chretien government feared that a showdown with Alberta might sap public support for Kyoto.

Anderson, who was dumped from cabinet when Paul Martin succeeded Chretien, said he was fired for "trying too hard to push colleagues faster" on Kyoto than the "indecisive" new leader was prepared to go.

He said Martin's eventual appointment of the more province-friendly Dion to the environment post was meant to send "a signal things would not be as aggressive," although Dion "later turned out to be energetic" on the file.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Tories have portrayed the Liberals as big talkers on climate change while doing little to stem emissions, which rose 27 per cent under Grit rule.

But Anderson maintained the Liberals actually accomplished a great deal under difficult circumstances, facing stiff opposition every step of the way from provinces, industry, business groups, the media and the Canadian Alliance, precursor to Harper's Conservatives.

At the same time, he noted, the economy grew much faster than expected, causing emissions to soar.

While "bean-counting" audits have cast doubt on the effectiveness of Liberal initiatives, Anderson said they don't measure the impact of intangibles such as the government's communications strategy. He credited the previous Liberal regime with galvanizing public demand for action on climate change, to the point where today not even Harper dares ignore the issue any longer.

"Am I saying we did everything we could? No. I wanted to do more," Anderson said, adding that he believes the Liberals were too deferential to Klein, to Ontario's former premier Mike Harris and to the energy and auto industries.

"I was struggling hard over five years ... to get more done but Canada is a collegial country of collective decisions."