Canada is introducing a carbon price for regions that do not regulate emissions by themselves.

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says a new emissions regime will be implemented next month, which includes a “backstop” for provinces that did not comply.

Canada's 10 provinces enjoy strong control over their environmental laws, and say they want to be able to cut carbon emissions their own way.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pushed the provinces into a compromise deal in March that acknowledged the need for a price on carbon emissions, but allowed specific details to be worked out later.

The four major provinces - British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec - already have either a tax on carbon or a cap-and-trade emissions-limiting system.

In the far western energy-producing province of Saskatchewan, Premier Brad Wall is strongly resistant to the emissions-limiting plans.

The Energy Minister said Saskatchewan and other opposed provinces could design a system that returns emissions revenues to companies through tax cuts, dampening the extra cost brought by the carbon pricing scheme.

Ms McKenna said it was vital that there was some uniformity in emissions reduction scheme, but there could be a number of options for regulation methods.

The previous government planned to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, which official figures suggest would be impossible without radical reduction measures.