Environment Minister John Baird has fired a salvo back at former U.S. Vice President Al Gore in a war of words over the Conservatives' new climate policy.

"Former Vice-President Al Gore deserves acknowledgement for the success of his film in highlighting the huge ecological challenge of climate change," Baird said Saturday in a statement.

"It is difficult to accept criticism from someone who preaches about climate change, but who never submitted the Kyoto Protocol to a vote in the United States Senate, who never did as much as Canada is now doing to fight climate change during eight years in office ...."

Presenting his Academy Award-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" at the Green Living Show in Toronto on Saturday morning, Gore blasted the new Conservatives' new policy as a "complete and total fraud.

"It is designed to mislead the Canadian people," he said.

Baird said Gore had never been briefed on the government's plan.

On Thursday, the minister outlined the policy, which aims to tackle both greenhouse gas emissions and air quality.  He touted the plan as a middle-of-the-road approach that will lead to reduced greenhouse gas emissions while protecting the economy.

The Conservatives have abandoned the Kyoto Protocol target of a 6 per cent cut in GHG emissions below 1990 levels by 2012. However, their predecessor parties also voted against Kyoto's ratification in 2002.

The United States, during the time of Gore and U.S. President Bill Clinton, signed the Kyoto protocol in 1998 and agreed to a seven per cent cut in emissions despite opposition from the U.S. Senate.

However, Gore and Senator Joseph Lieberman indicated that the protocol would not be acted upon in the Senate until there was participation by developing nations, and the accord was never submitted to the Republican-controlled Senate for ratification. 

The Liberal government of Paul Martin tabled a plan in April 2005 that it claimed would have met the Kyoto target, but the Conservatives cancelled it when they took office.

Under the Conservative plan, Canada won't reach that target until 2025.

Baird shifted the baseline year to 2006 from 1990. He also introduced intensity targets, which means companies have to cut emissions relative to a unit of production. If production rises, total emissions can still rise.

Gore said "intensity reduction" is a poll-tested phrase developed in Houston by so-called "think tanks" financed by Exxon Mobil and some other large polluters. He found himself surprised to hear it in Canada.

Some analysis of Baird's plan shows many other loopholes, reported The Canadian Press:

• Major industrial emitters will not have to start cutting their emissions until 2010.
• In 2010, polluters will be able to meet 80 per cent of their reduction obligations either by buying credits from a technology research fund or helping to fund green projects internationally, leaving only a fraction devoted to actual reductions. If a company's production booms, it could actually increase carbon output.
• Some polluters who just started operations won't have to make any reductions at all in the next five years.
• There are no taxes directed at Canadians to change consumption patterns.
• A promise to regulate better efficiencies in the automobile industry will kick in for model year 2011. But because the commitment hinges on the negotiation on a new North American standard, there is no guarantee any changes will actually occur.

Shortly after Baird presented it, Suzuki publicly confronted him on Friday in the midst of a crowd of journalists, telling the minister the plan falls short of what's needed.

"What you promised was a long way from what you delivered. It's not enough John," Suzuki said, while Baird argued that it was farther than any other government had ever gone to address environmental concerns.

Gore praised Suzuki for confronting Baird, and said the new plan is "shocking." He said the rest of the world looks to Canada as an environmental leader, and Canada must set a good example.

With files from The Canadian Press