Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon said the government may set fuel efficiency standards similar to those to be adopted in the United States in 2020 or introduce its own regulations.

"We made a commitment to implement fuel consumption regulations for the 2011 model year that are benchmarked against a stringent, dominant North American standard, and we are keeping our word," Cannon said in a statement.

While he did not indicate a specific fuel efficiency standard in his announcement, Cannon said the regulations would beging with the 2011 model year and would at the minimum follow the new US regulations.

US President George W. Bush signed legislation last month requiring the auto industry to reduce fuel consumption in most cars and light trucks by 40 percent, raising the fuel efficiency standard to 35 miles per gallon (15 kilometers per liter) by 2020.

Canada does not have fuel consumption regulations for cars and light trucks.

Cannon opened a 60-day consultation period with the auto industry, environmentalists and provincial governments to discuss future regulations.

Canada's Climate Action Network, which groups environmental organizations, called on the government to adopt California standards that are 18 percent more stringent than those set by the federal government.

"California's standards should be the minimum for Canada, and the government missed an opportunity to sign on to them today," said John Bennett, executive director of climateforchange.ca.

"If the government truly wants to maximize' the benefits for Canadians, the weaker US federal standards just won't do it," he said in a statement from Climate Action.

The Canadian government says that the tranport sector accounts for 25 percent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions and have risen by 27 percent between 1990-2004.

The transport ministry says cars and light trucks are responsible for 12 percent of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions, which cause global warming.

All rights reserved. copyright 2018 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.