CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) — The Canadian oil patch is circling the wagons again.The ruts are well-worn, but the difference now is that the perceived offensive on the oil industry’s financial health is from a supposedly friendly Conservative government with deep Western Canadian roots, not a Liberal crowd from the East.

The fear stems from Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s minority government’s new push to persuade sceptical voters, especially in Eastern Canada, that it cares about the dangers posed by greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.

Environment Minister John Baird has promised new emissions targets for the oil and other industries in coming months. He started consultation with energy bosses in Calgary on Friday.

Emission cuts don’t come cheap. So what does it mean for Bay Street, which has so far escaped big environmental restrictions on energy and ridden an unprecedented boom?

So far, stock prices haven’t reflected new environmental cost burdens.

“Everybody’s talking about it quietly, but there are more questions than answers. That’s what it boils down to,” said Martin Molyneaux, FirstEnergy Capital Corp.’s managing director of institutional research.