Canada’s minister of transport says the country will, for the first time, establish its own fuel-economy standards for motor vehicles and that they will be at least as stringent as the new rules adopted in the U.S.

Wards Automotive reported this week that the Canadian standards would kick in in 2011 and would call for fleet averages of at least 35 miles per gallon. In 2006, the unregulated fleet average of vehicles sold in Canada was 27 miles per gallon.