Canada’s economy and automotive industry may be closely linked with the U.S. but its government is adamant on establishing its own ‘made-in-Canada’ fuel economy standards rather than follow the U.S. legislation. Officials were quick to point out, however, that Canada’s new standard would ‘at a minimum’ meet the rules (35mpg fleet average by 2020) established in the U.S. recently.

“We made a commitment to implement fuel-consumption regulations for the 2011 model year that are benchmarked against a stringent, dominant North American standard, and we are keeping our word,” Canada’s transport minister Lawrence Cannon said in a statement.

According to Wards, Canada’s combined new vehicle fleet average fuel economy for 2006 was about 27mpg and any new legislation will only improve on this. The legislative deadline for the new ruling is late 2008.