The plan comes after an Alberta-appointed expert panel concluded, in a July 5, 2011 report, that current monitoring of Alberta oilsands projects and extraction is insufficient and needs to have "rigorous scientific design and execution" to be effective.

Kent said the new federal monitoring plan will "provide the facts and the science to defend the [oilsands] product, which some abroad are threatening to boycott."

Environmental experts say the Canadian government needs to come up with a system of enforceable regulations, and worry the monitoring plan is more about public relations than environmental protection.

Newly released e-mails and internal records show the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, an industry lobby group, was responsible for organizing a March 2010 secret strategy meeting involving senior Canadian and Albertan government officials, as well CEOs from oil and gas companies, to develop an advocacy campaign to polish the image of Alberta's oilsands industry.

"The federal government clearly isn't protecting the Alberta environment, or seriously addressing climate change. Their primary concern is protecting big oil profits and stemming bad PR," said John Bennett of Sierra Club Canada.

"More data alone will not stop the growing pollution problem. Ottawa already has the legal authority to act," said Environmental Defence program manager Gillian McEachern.

"It's just so frustrating because it's so clear that what we're seeing is an international energy policy (in Canada) based on promoting the short-term interests of the oil companies, rather than: long-term interests of Canadians; the fight against climate change and, promotion of clean energy," said Graham Saul executive director of Climate Action Network.