OTTAWA—Canada was “too slow” to respond to the damage done to the country’s reputation by the Alberta oilsands, then-Environment Minister Jim Prentice told the American envoy in Ottawa a meeting last year.

Despite the brave public face of the Conservative government, Prentice told U.S. ambassador David Jacobson that he was stunned by backlash around the world to carbon-intensive Canadian oil and was prepared to correct the damage done with stringent emissions-cutting regulations.

Prentice, who has since left Ottawa to become vice-chairman and senior vice-president of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, made the admissions at his first meeting with Jacobson on Nov. 5, 2009 in Ottawa.

The gravity of Canada’s predicament first came clear to the respected cabinet minister during a trip to Bergen, Norway, where he attended a carbon capture and storage conference in late May, 2009. Norway, then in the run-up to a parliamentary election, was debating the involvement of government-owned Statoil in the Alberta oilsands, which had been deemed a source of “dirty oil.”

“As Prentice relayed it, the public sentiment in Norway shocked him and has heightened his awareness of the negative consequences to Canada’s historically ‘green’ standing on the world stage,” said a U.S. embassy cable that recounts the meeting.

The cable, marked “Sensitive” is one of more than 250,000 obtained by WikiLeaks. Fewer than 2,000 have been released so far.

“Calling himself ‘conservationist-minded,’ Prentice said he would step in and regulate the sands if Canada’s image in the world gets further tarnished by negative coverage,” the diplomatic memo said.

The cable hints at tensions between Prentice and Lisa Raitt, then the natural resources minister, and quotes the Alberta MP as saying that “he felt the government of Canada’s reaction to the dirty oil label was ‘too slow’ and failed to grasp the magnitude of the situation.”

It goes on to say that Prentice “made clear that he was constantly monitoring the situation” and would step in if industrial oilsands operators didn’t heed voluntary regulation and the Alberta government didn’t put “more stringent” rules in place.

That sentiment appears to have been short-lived, though. Prentice had promised to set regulations in the fall of 2009 that would force industries, including the oilsands producers, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which scientists say contribute to global warming.

In the lead-up to a United Nations-sponsored climate change conference that December in Copenhagen, however, he changed course and said regulation of Canadian emissions would have to wait until the United States established similar rules with which the federal government could harmonize.

More than a year later, regulations to cut emissions have not materialized in either country despite identical commitments to reduce greenhouse gases to 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020.

It is difficult to tell if Prentice was saying what he thought the ambassador wanted to hear or whether he was simply trying to cozy up to Jacobson, a Chicago attorney, key fundraiser for U.S. President Barack Obama and former special assistant to the president.

Bill Rodgers, who was communications director for Prentice before filling the role for his successor, John Baird, refused to explain what he said were “private discussions.”

But the tone of the cable suggests Prentice was trying to endear himself to a diplomat with a direct line to the U.S. president.

“From the onset of the lunch, Minister Prentice was clearly making every effort to establish a connection with Ambassador Jacobson, outlining his respect for the (Obama) administration and his interest in President Obama’s ‘back story,’ persona and goals,” the cable states.

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Prentice, who could not be reached for comment, told Jacobson about his three daughters, life in Alberta and his “love for the outdoors.”

He also asked for help setting up a meeting with Democratic Senator John Kerry to discuss Canada’s concerns about U.S. climate change legislation, for assistance promoting the idea of a North American carbon-trading market.

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