National carbon market faces opposition

As Ottawa moves to establish an emissions trading system, some provinces are already going their own way OTTAWA -- As the federal government moves forward with plans to create a trading system for greenhouse gas emissions, significant hurdles remain to building a national market. One of the principal barriers: the government of Alberta, which insists that companies can only purchase offsets - which are used to meet their emissions targets - from suppliers based in the province. In its climate change plans announced this week, the federal government provided some key details of its plan for creating a carbon emissions trading market. It has allocated $66-million to develop the necessary certification and regulatory structure. But experts in the field worry that Canada is developing a balkanized market, with various provinces going their own way. Some, like Manitoba and British Columbia, are collaborating with fledgling U.S. regional markets, while the federal government requires companies to primarily buy their credits within this country. MORE