Prime Minister Jean Chrétien addresses the summit on Monday, telling the delegates that Canada plans to ratify the Kyoto accord this year. Photo: Philippe Desmazes/AFP

Johannesburg — Prime Minister Jean Chrétien began cementing his environmental legacy at the United Nations Earth summit Monday, unveiling a major expansion of national parks and signalling his clear intent to ratify the Kyoto Protocol by year-end.

Adding 10 new parks and five marine conservation areas is earning him nothing but plaudits, but Mr. Chrétien's drive to bind Canada to the controversial Kyoto accord on global warming has set the stage for a clash with oil-rich Alberta.

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The Alberta government, which opposes Kyoto, immediately labelled Mr. Chrétien's Johannesburg announcement a "breach of trust" and threatened to go to the Supreme Court of Canada if necessary to stop it from being imposed on the province.

Mr. Chrétien was unrepentant in the face of Alberta's reaction, saying Canadians expect Ottawa to fight global warming.

"We cannot wait forever. It's a commitment that the country wants to make in our international obligations," he told reporters.

"The climate [change] situation is a huge problem and we even suffer from that in Canada. Look at the drought in Alberta — you cannot wait until it's too late."

The 1997 Kyoto accord, which the United States has rejected, binds countries to make deep cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases believed to upset the Earth's climate and temperature.

Critics, including Alberta, say the accord is too strict and will damage the economy by burdening businesses with new costs.

Mr. Chrétien said Kyoto consultations will continue a little longer but that Ottawa is "finalizing" a plan to cut greenhouse-gas emissions under Kyoto and will put the ratification decision to a vote in the Liberal-dominated House of Commons before 2002 is out.

He told reporters that he expects the ratification vote to pass. "If you look at the mood in the House, you can conclude that Kyoto is supported by a good number of members in the House," he said. "For me I think [the outcome] is quite predictable."

A majority of Liberal MPs has recently signed a petition calling for ratification of Kyoto and the Bloc Québécois and the New Democrats are expected to vote with the government on the matter.

But opposition politicians said yesterday the federal government may not have the constitutional authority — or the ability — to ratify and implement Kyoto.

"I think they're headed for a very serious and protracted series of constitutional fights and other divisive political battles," Canadian Alliance Leader Stephen Harper said.

"Obviously, this is quite a flip-flop for a government that was going to proceed cautiously and make sure it had the provinces and industry onside."

Chuck Strahl, an Alliance MP from British Columbia, said jurisdictional concerns about Kyoto have been partly fuelled by Ottawa's unwillingness to bring the provinces into the process.

"It's that arrogance that drives decentralists like myself crazy," he said. "I think you're going to have a real federal-provincial scrap over this."

Progressive Conservative House Leader Peter Mackay said Mr. Chrétien's "bully-in-a-school-yard attitude" will be part of his legacy. "He seems quite willing to poke provinces in the face."

But as critics lined up to denounce Mr. Chrétien's Kyoto announcement, environmentalists applauded his move on parks, which is the biggest national-park expansion initiative in the past 30 years.

Monte Hummel, president of the World Wildlife Fund Canada, praised the new preservation drive that will hand Canadians "more of these real crown jewels to visit, experience and enjoy.

"There really has not been something like this since the Prime Minister was minister of Northern Affairs: in many ways he is circling back and closing a circle," Mr. Hummel said.

Environmentalists such as John Bennett with the Sierra Club of Canada also applauded Mr. Chrétien's announcement on ratifying the 1997 Kyoto treaty as long overdue.

"This puts [Canada] back on the plus side in terms of international leadership on environmental issues."

But Alberta Environment Minister Lorne Taylor, attending the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, said Mr. Chrétien is betraying the provinces by barrelling ahead to ratify the Kyoto treaty without their consent.

He said the deal will devastate Alberta and other provinces just as former prime minister Pierre Trudeau's national energy program hurt the Canadian oil patch, predicting companies would pull investment.

"If this goes through in its present form, there's no doubt in my mind that capital will leave the oil patch," Mr. Taylor said.

"The Prime Minister's always said he would have consultation and agreement with the provinces before he ratifies. He hasn't had consultation with the provinces and has no agreement with the provinces — and yet he goes forward Mr. Taylor said Alberta will try to persuade Ottawa to back down on Kyoto but will go to court if necessary.

"We're prepared as a last resort to go to the Supreme Court on this issue."

Mr. Chrétien said he never promised Alberta or other provinces a veto on the accord, saying it is Ottawa's prerogative to sign international treaties.

"In Canada you cannot promise that you will do something only if you have the agreement of all the provinces," he told reporters. "You might as well say you don't have a [federal] government any more."

Mr. Chrétien said Canada has a decade to work out how to comply with the Kyoto accord, which does not require countries to meet targets until 2012, and suggested critics calm down.

"It's not for tomorrow — it's a work in progress," he said, noting that poll after poll shows Canadians back the accord.

But Mr. Taylor predicted a voter backlash against the Liberals in Western Canada. "The Liberals only have two seats in Alberta so they really don't have much to lose and I think that's the way they are looking at it."

He said Alberta will spread the word that Kyoto is going to drive up gasoline and electricity prices for consumers in the hope that Canadians reconsider.

"I can't imagine why any prime minister leaving wants to have a legacy five or 10 years from now that he's the guy who damaged the Canadian economy."

It is not entirely clear how much Alberta could frustrate Ottawa's plans to curb greenhouse-gas emissions in the province because law is murky on the matter.

A major plank of an eventual federal Kyoto plan will be to impose limits on industrial emissions, and Environment Minister David Anderson said yesterday that Ottawa believes it has the authority to place these caps on Alberta-based businesses.

With a report from Simon Tuck in Ottawa