OTTAWA — Environment Minister Stephane Dion says he'll be able to steer negotiations at a crucial international climate conference that opens in Montreal this month even if an election is called.

"We are all professionals," Dion said Thursday. "Whatever happens, I will focus only on this."

He made the comments after announcing that Ottawa will contribute $260 million over four years to fund emissions-cutting projects abroad, to promote carbon-sequestration technology, and to enhance international Earth-observation systems.

The first conference of parties to the Kyoto Protocol is expected to draw more than 8,000 delegates to Montreal from around the world, including many ministers and heads of government.

The purpose of the conference is to protect and broaden the international effort to curb the accumulation of greenhouse emissions in the atmosphere.

Environmentalists fear the negotiations could be jeopardized if there is a federal election during the conference which runs from Nov. 28 to Dec. 9.

The opposition is expected to introduce a non-confidence motion Nov. 24 and vote to bring down the minority Liberal government Nov. 28 or Nov. 29.

"It certainly is the nightmare scenario," said Elizabeth May, executive director of the Sierra Club.

"An election now is clearly a large risk for the success of these negotiations."

She said that Dion's role is pivotal because of the time he has spent in preparations, including preliminary talks with counterparts from many countries.

"I don't know how global negotiations could proceed without him in the chair because he's done all the groundwork."

Andrew Deutz, adviser to the World Conservation Union in Washington, said it will take a lot of arm-twisting to get an agreement, and it would be regrettable if the Canadian government was distracted by an election.

The big challenges are to find ways of including developing countries like China and India in the Kyoto process; to set emissions-reductions targets beyond the 2012 deadline of the current protocol; and to somehow engage the United States despite its decision to withdraw from the treaty.

The conference got a boost this week when presidents and chief executive officers from 18 Canadian corporations stated their support for the Kyoto treaty, and called for additional emissions-reductions targets extending to 2050.

Dion said Canada agrees on the need for longer-term targets.

"We are looking for a broader process involving all the countries of the world in order to give certainty to the market, that the world's commitment to climate change action will continue for the long haul."

Asked whether Canada can credibly lead the global effort to cut emissions when its own emissions are rising due to new oil developments, notably the Alberta tar sands, Dion was unapologetic.

"There is no country that will say, 'If we had these oil sands we would keep them in the sand.' They are not hypocritical.

"There is no environment minister on Earth that will stop this oil from being produced."