Opposition parties pushed through legislation on Wednesday that requires the Conservative government to respect Canada's commitments under the Kyoto accord.

Bill C-288, the Kyoto protocol implementation act, passed in the House by a 161 to 113 vote with the backing of the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois.

The private members' bill was introduced last May by Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez, and passed its second reading in October.

The bill also calls on the government to outline, within 60 days, how it intends to meet the Kyoto targets.

Earlier, the Conservative government lost a last-ditch effort to kill the opposition bill.

The Tories appealed to the Speaker of the House of Commons to declare it invalid, arguing that it would illegitimately force the government to spend money against its will.

However, Speaker Peter Milliken cited two previous rulings that the bill contains no government spending measures. In addition, he can't speculate on what impact the bill could potentially have.

Again citing past rulings, Milliken said the Commons can vote later on any money-related provisions as they come up.

Parliamentary procedures specifically prohibit such appeals.

Under Kyoto, Canada agreed to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases to six per cent below 1990 levels from 2008 to 2012. Canada ratified Kyoto in 2002 under the former Liberal government.

Conservatives and a number of environmentalists have said the targets would be impossible to reach by the deadline. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Environment Minister John Baird said achieving the targets would cause substantial damage to Canada's economy -- a charge denied by Kyoto supporters.

Ahead of the vote, Baird suggested the government will simply ignore the bill if it becomes law.

"How do you implement a bill with no money and no regulatory powers?" he told CTV News. "So it's a bit of a joke."

"It's just a mischief bill," Mark Warawa, parliamentary secretary to the environment minister, told CP. "It shows what the Liberals have always done: just empty rhetoric, empty bills that won't actually achieve anything."

A 'serious bill'

Constitutional experts, however, have said the government must respect laws passed by Parliament.

University of Ottawa legal expert Errol Mendes said the bill contains "specific obligations" in certain sections which could lead to "serious legal consequences" if the government chooses to ignore it.

For example, Mendes said the opposition could launch a court challenge demanding the government fulfill obligations outlined in the bill's section 5 -- which requires from the government a detailed climate change plan after 60 days of the bill passing Senate and becoming law.

"There is another section, section 7, which requires an even more extensive system to be put in place by the cabinet," Mendes told Mike Duffy Live. "So this is a very serious bill."

But Tory MP Jason Kenney called the legislation a "bad political joke" concocted by the Liberals, who he accused of playing "political football" with an issue as important as the environment.

Kenney said the Liberals, after signing on to the international protocol in 1997 and ratifying it in 2002, failed to implement any changes under the "legally binding" global pact -- which was opposed at the time by the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties.

"In the interim seven, eight years, carbon emissions went up by five to seven per cent a year -- 35 per cent over target while they were at the wheel," Kenney told Mike Duffy Live.  

"They completely failed and now at the 11th hour they say 'oh, we're going to make another gimmick' -- that they have no plan to execute."  

The Conservatives have promised to cap greenhouse gas emissions by major polluters, but not until sometime between 2020 and 2025.

The Tories also announced recently a series of green initiatives, including a $1.5-billion fund to help provinces fight pollution and greenhouse gases and $36 million in funding to urge industry to make more environmentally-friendly cars.