Canada will tell a green summit next week it is finally ready to tackle climate change, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said after a meeting with the country's provinces to work out a national strategy.

Mr Trudeau's Liberals won an election last month promising radical change on the environment from the previous Conservative administration, which was widely criticised for not doing enough to combat global warming during its near decade in power.

Mr Trudeau, who will attend a UN environmental summit in Paris next week, says Canada must curb its emissions of greenhouse gases.

"In Paris a united Canada will demonstrate that we are serious about climate change," he said after meeting with premiers of the 10 provinces and three territories.

Alberta, home to most of Canada's oil sands, said on Sunday in a ground-breaking move that it would implement an economy-wide tax on carbon emissions in 2017.

Mr Trudeau and the provinces hope their united approach and Alberta's move will help dispel some of the international suspicion about Canada and climate change.

At previous UN summits the Conservative government sometimes found itself openly at odds with activist groups and even some provinces. Those days were over, Mr Trudeau said.