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Just ahead of the release of the federal government's Clean Air Act, Environment Minister Rona Ambrose pledged the legislation will include mandatory greenhouse gas emissions regulations for all industries.

Ambrose appeared on CTV's Question Period Sunday where she faced questions about what will be included in the document set to be released this week.


Environmentalists who obtained a two-month-old draft of the legislation said it amounts to smoke and mirrors and makes only surface changes to the status quo.


Ambrose revealed few details, but promised it will contain measures to regulate greenhouse gases for industry and said there is a direct link between GHGs and global warming.


"They're not separate issues. When you attack global warming, you attack greenhouse gases. You can't separate the two of them from each other," Ambrose said.


"The auto sector produces greenhouse gases and they need to be regulated. So does the electricity sector ... Ontario Power Generation is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gases. So all of these industry sectors have to be regulated. They have never been regulated by the federal government before and it's time we do it."


Ambrose, who is from Alberta, pledged the oil and gas industry will also face new mandatory greenhouse gas emissions regulations. She said Albertans, and all Canadians, want mandatory emissions reductions to be put in place for industry.


She wouldn't say when the new rules will be put in place, but pledged there will be hard and fast timelines for all members of industry.


"The important thing to do as a federal government is to regulate industry. That's what we can do as a federal government."

The auto sector produces greenhouse gases and they need to be regulated. So does the electricity sector ... Ontario Power Generation is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gases. So all of these industry sectors have to be regulated.

Canada's two biggest provinces are upset that the Conservative clean air plan doesn't mention multi-million-dollar promises made by the previous Liberal government to help curb air pollution.

Ontario and Quebec say they expect the Tories to pay up. The Clean Air Act released this week contained many promises of consultation and regulation, but there was no word of federal funding to help provinces move to a low-polluting economy.

"We were very disappointed that the federal government did not make any reference to providing any kind of funding to assist provinces like Ontario or businesses to address this really important issue," Ontario Environment Minister Laurel Broten said in an interview Friday.

Ontario had a $538 million agreement with the federal government to help close the province's dirty coal-fired power plants. Closing the plants would cut greenhouse emissions by 30 megatonnes annually, said Broten.

"We've committed to close coal. That's the single largest greenhouse gas reduction initiative in North America."

Broten said Ontario has a written federal commitment and the Conservatives promised to respect the deal, but haven't done so.

"What concerns me is the former government had put in place $10 billion to assist in climate change initiatives. This government has reduced the available funding to $2 billion."