If the Canadian government ends up with a weak deal in Copenhagen to tackle climate change, the provinces could ignore it and take stronger action, says Quebec Premier Jean Charest.
"In Copenhagen, the federal government has the power to sign treaties, but it doesn't have the power to bind provincial governments to them," Charest said Wednesday.
"That's the Canadian reality, and it's a hard reality."
Ottawa wants to cut Canada's greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent from 2006 levels by 2020. But some provinces, including Quebec and Ontario, say that plan doesn't go far enough.
Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice shot back at Charest, saying the federal government has the authority to represent Canada as a whole.
"Canada doesn't need the approval of the provinces to establish or conclude a treaty," Prentice said. "Our federation couldn't function if, at every international conference, we need unanimity from the provinces."
Regardless, a successful outcome from the Copenhagen climate change summit looked doubtful Wednesday. The Danish president of the conference, Connie Hedegaard, has resigned and will be replaced by the Danish prime minister as head of the talks. UN climate chief Yvo de Boer says Hedegaard will continue to lead informal talks but Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen will now be the formal head of the conference.
Hedegaard says it's appropriate for Rasmussen to preside, with so many heads of state and governments taking part.
The move comes after all-night talks by a working group failed to set new goals for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
"I regret to report we have been unable to reach agreement," John Ashe of Antigua, chairman of one negotiating group, reported to a news conference Wednesday morning.
Negotiations have become bogged down by conflict between rich and poor nations over who should make the first move to cut greenhouse gas emissions and who should pay.
"We have, over the last 24 hours, been essentially in a position where we've been waiting for the chairs of the process, the Danes, to come forward with a text (so) that we can resume the negotiations," Environment Minister Jim Prentice told CTV News Channel by phone from the Danish capital.
The world leaders have until the main summit on Friday to agree to a deal, under a deadline set at a meeting in Bali, Indonesia, back in 2007.
"It's one of the key elements they're working on, and yet the head of the United Nations is saying 'maybe should put that aside and leave it for another conference further down the road,'" CTV's Tom Kennedy said by phone from the Danish capital.
"It gives an idea of the kind of frustration that there is here, trying to deal with these issues, and how far they are away from the solution they thought they would possibly be able to reach several months ago, before they came here."
In the talks overnight, the American delegation reportedly objected to a proposed text it felt might bind the U.S. prematurely to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, before the U.S. Congress could act on the required legislation.
U.S. envoys wanted to reword the text so that the word "shall" would be replaced with "should." That proposal was apparently rejected.
With a climate change bill not expected to pass through the U.S. Congress before next spring, many other nations say they are unwilling to make their final commitments until the U.S. does.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is urging leaders to reach a deal but conceded that there is much work left to be done.
"It's possible that we will not reach agreement and it's also true that there are many issues to be sorted out," Brown said Tuesday night.
The failure to rein in greenhouse gases -- mainly the result of burning fossil fuels -- could cause "an economic catastrophe equivalent in this century to the impact of two world wars and the Great Depression in the last," Brown said in a statement on his arrival.
As officials struggled to come to a deal, protesters battled police outside the meetings.
Police were using tear gas, pepper spray and batons to disperse crowds of protesters trying to disrupt the talks on Wednesday. Police spokesman Per Larsen says 230 protesters have been detained in the clashes outside the suburban conference centre.
With reports emerging that summit talks have become deadlocked, the protesters say they want to take over the conference and turn it into a "people's assembly."
Security has been tightened and so far none of the activists have been able to break into the huge Bella Center convention hall.
Protesters occupy Harper's office
Meanwhile, about 20 environmental activists occupied Harper's Calgary constituency office Wednesday and called for Canada to take a tougher position on climate change in Copenhagen.
The protesters called on Harper to resign as prime minister if he refuses to develop a strong policy aimed at cuting carbon emissions.
The sit-in is the eighth such event to target Conservative cabinet ministers, some of which have resulted in trespassing charges.
Last week, 20 Greenpeace activists were arrested and charged with mischief after protesters scaled two Parliament Hill buildings to protest what they said was Canada's inaction on climate change.
Prentice has refuted such claims, insisting that Canada has proposed a stringent emissions-reduction target at the conference.
"It's virtually identical to the Obama target from the United States. In fact, it's slightly more aggressive than the American target," he said. "It's roughly the same level of emission that the Europeans are promising."
"The difficulty that Canada faces at the table has been the strong economic growth and population growth that we've had since 1990 when Kyoto was originally negotiated," Prentice said.
With files from The Canadian Press
