U.S. carbon initiative nets key Canadian province

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) – The province of Ontario, Canada’s industrial heartland, will join the Western Climate Initiative, a planned U.S.-based regional carbon credit trading pact aimed at curbing global warming.

Ontario is the fourth province to join the effort that includes California and six other U.S. states, and was established by U.S. state governors tired of what they saw as the Bush administration’s inaction on climate change.

Canadian environmentalists hailed the announcement as evidence that provincial leaders were losing faith in Ottawa’s stand on climate change, but federal Environment Minister John Baird said he saw no problem with Ontario’s decision.

Reuters