Environment Minister Rona Ambrose says Canada is considering joining a U.S.-led effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions. But she says we must first clean up the emissions and smog clouds hanging over most of the country's cities and towns.

The Conservatives have long said Canada cannot meet its Kyoto targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Ambrose on Tuesday said the government is considering a pact that lies outside the framework of the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty on climate change ratified under a previous Liberal government four years ago.

The pact, called the Asia-Pacific Partnership, is a loose agreement involving the U.S., Australia, India, Japan, China and South Korea. It looks at ways to develop technologies to reduce emissions, rather than setting specific reduction targets.

It is not legally binding, and does not set caps on carbon emissions. But Ambrose said its key principles "are very much in line with where our government wants to go.''

"It's a very interesting group and I think they're doing things that we're very interested in participating in further down the road," said the minister after meeting with two senior U.S. government officials responsible for the environment.

'Made in Canada' solution

Ambrose added, however, that Canada would not join any partnership or enter international negotiations without first cleaning up its own air and water with a "made-in-Canada'' solution.

"We have to clean up our own back yard before we're going to start engaging on the international stage on some of the international agreements that are post-2012," Ambrose said.

Canada's greenhouse gas emissions have increased significantly since Kyoto was signed.

Ambrose said the U.S., although it produces more pollution just by the sheer nature and size of its population and industry, does a better job than Canada of controlling the growth of its greenhouse gases.

"We have lots of work to do," Ambrose said Tuesday evening on CTV's Mike Duffy Live.

"They are beating us on control in every sector. What I told (the U.S. officials) was, we want to not only be on par with you, we want to outperform you.

"So, we are going to be meeting with their officials over the coming months to make sure that not only are we on par with where they are going with vehicle emission and where they are already at on a number of sector industry pollution sectors."

Ambrose met Tuesday with Paula Dobriansky, under secretary of state for democracy, and John Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

The U.S. has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, and Dobriansky made clear Tuesday its position has not changed.

Details

Some of the U.S. environmental initiatives the Conservative will adopt include:

• cutting tailgate pollution from diesel trucks with new requirements for low-sulfur fuels and cleaner engines
• cutting pollution from coal-fired electrical plants by 70 per cent

"So that black puff of smoke that you see coming out of trucks and farm equipment will be a thing of the past. (It's) a big deal," Connaughton said at Tuesday's briefing.

"Those are cuts in acid-rain causing sulfur dioxide which also produces refined particles that gives people with respiratory illnesses so much distress."

Ambrose says the Conservative environmental plan will also stress renewable energy.

Critics

The environment minister isn't putting a cost on the new measures, but some critics, including Canadian truckers, aren't happy with the proposal.

"It doesn't come cheap," David Bradley, CEO of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, told CTV. "The new ultra fuel sulfur gasoline, by our estimates, will cost an additional two or three cents a litre more than fuel presently costs."

John Bennett, senior policy adviser on energy to the Sierra Club of Canada, faulted the Tory plan to join a partnership which relies entirely on voluntary action and fails to set hard targets on reducing emissions.

In the House of Commons on Tuesday, Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe asked when the Tories' "made-in-Canada" plan will be revealed. Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave no timeline.

"The previous government left us with billions of dollars of programs that didn't provide any results," Harper said. "We'll need to review these programs . . . but we intend to have a Canadian plan to ensure progress on this matter."

With files from CTV's Ottawa bureau chief Robert Fife and The Canadian Press