The following is from today's edition of the "Ottawa Citizen".

Obama also ditches plan to legislate carbon cap-and-trade system

The power shift in the U.S. Congress has killed the prospect of a North American carbon cap-and-trade system and will require Canada to be more vigilant than ever against American economic and political pressures -- and myths -- that threaten open cross-border trade, Canadian politicians and analysts said Wednesday.

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and others said the Republican victory in the House of Representatives -- which U.S. President Barack Obama conceded spelled the end of his party's cap-and-trade effort -- puts the onus now on Canada to move alone and stop using the Americans as an "excuse for not doing anything on the environment."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper dismissed Ignatieff's remark, saying his government is moving on domestic, continental and global fronts on climate change. The Tories had been waiting for the outcome of the U.S. legislative process rather than proceeding with a Canada-only cap-and-trade plan for buying and selling industrial carbon emissions.

Harper defended that in the House of Commons, saying a North American approach was necessary because some industries are integrated across the continent.

Experts noted Obama's signal that the administration's battle against carbon now will shift from the legislative to the regulatory front where Democrats are waging battle with Republicans over the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's powers over industrial polluters.

"What they can't do through legislation, the administration will try to do through regulation," said Colin Robertson, a former Canadian diplomat who specializes in Canada-U.S. affairs.

While the record suggests Republicans are less protectionist than Democrats in terms of traditional trade barriers, Canada has faced a decade of border management issues with the United State that are in some cases, such as clogged border crossings, tantamount to trade barriers.

"For us, the border stuff won't get any easier as the GOP (Republicans) puts big emphasis on 'security' and enforcement -- it's a basic piece in the Pledge to America," said Robertson, citing the frequently resurgent myth, resurrected during the midterm election campaign, that terrorists travel to the U.S. via a porous Canadian border.

Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae says Canada has to guard against more of what was heard during the midterm election campaign, such as "completely ignorant" comments about Canada's health care system and "completely false" statements about terrorist travel via Canada.

NDP leader Jack Layton said he suspects trade relations will continue to dog the Canada-U.S. relationship. "There is no question across the United States there is a real worry about job loss and about trade deals that produce job loss," Layton said in an interview. "And NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) has produced considerable challenges in terms of job loss in several key sectors here in Canada."

He predicted Canada-U.S. trade will emerge as an issue in the run up to the presidential election in 2012, as it did during the campaign that ended with Obama's election two years ago, and that it also will play a role in the next federal election in Canada.