OTTAWA — The Canadian government says it will hang tough on its climate-change targets at a major environmental conference in Copenhagen, despite criticism that this country isn’t doing enough to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

“They’re firm targets; they’re targets that we know we can achieve that are practical,” Environment Minister Jim Prentice told CTV’s Question Period Sunday. “It’s what we’ll be standing on at Copenhagen.”

Calling Canada a “constructive player” in global climate discussions, Prentice also said Prime Minister Stephen Harper will attend the final leaders’ session at the Copenhagen climate conference Dec. 18, even though U.S. President Barack Obama hasn’t yet committed to being there. Obama has said he will attend the early part of the summit Dec. 9, on his way to Oslo to receive his Nobel Peace Prize.

Canada will invest several hundred million dollars in a new Commonwealth climate change fund announced this weekend at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Trinidad.

At that meeting, Harper said Canada might consider, at most, minor tweaks to its greenhouse gas targets, but not more.

Both Harper and Prentice argue the Canadian approach to greenhouse gas emissions must be closely harmonized with American targets.

“It matches virtually precisely with the American target so we know we’re able to do this on a continental basis, and these are ambitious targets,” Prentice said. “This involves everything, from the kinds of cars we drive through to how we produce electricity.

“It needs to be harmonized on a continental basis or we’ll suffer the consequences in Canada, in terms of losses of jobs, of investment and so on.”

The government’s current targets call for shrinking greenhouse gas emissions 20% by 2020 from their 2006 levels, short of ambitious targets set out in the original Kyoto Protocol ,which called for a cut of 6% below 1990 levels by the year 2012.

Canada has been under pressure from environmental groups and even from the United Nations secretary-general to commit to even tougher action.

christina.spencer@sunmedia.ca