British Columbia’s government is fast-tracking the end of its consumer carbon tax ahead of the lifting of the federal equivalent on Tuesday, with Premier David Eby saying consumers should expect immediate price relief at the gas pumps.
The NDP’s bill amending B.C.’s Carbon Tax Act to set the consumer rate at $0 passed its first reading on Monday — B.C. Green Rob Botterell was the lone dissenting vote — and it was poised to complete its journey into law by the end of the day.
Eby’s government had successfully sought accelerated consideration to pass the legislation in one day, after a two-week break in sittings of the legislature.
The premier told a news conference that consumers should expect a gas price drop of about 17 cents per litre on Tuesday, adding that B.C. has legislation to ensure the province’s utilities commission has the authority to uncover price gouging.
“So just a little heads-up to the oil and gas [companies], now is not the moment. British Columbians need to see that tax reduction show up at the pump,” he said.
Prices in Metro Vancouver have recently been around $1.90 a litre, down to about $1.50 in other parts of the province.
B.C. residents are facing “huge affordability pressures,” Eby said, and while he had “fought” for the carbon tax in the past, the policy became a “toxic” issue due to concerted campaigns by the B.C. and federal Conservative parties.
“The carbon tax played an important role here in British Columbia for many years, assisting us in reducing our emissions while our economy continued to grow. It was supported by parties from many different backgrounds,” he said.
“However, the tax has become divisive, and at a time like this, British Columbians and Canadians need to be pulling together,” the premier said, pointing to the tariffs and threats coming from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Speaker Raj Chouhan had ruled immediately before the news conference that the bill amending B.C.’s carbon tax legislation was sufficiently urgent and limited in scope to meet the test for fast-tracking.
Opposition finance critic Peter Milobar had said the government could have dealt with the bill sooner by recalling the legislature, and instead it waited until the “11th hour.”
He said the government’s approach has been “ham-fisted,” unfairly cutting off discussion among members of the legislature.
“We are essentially left to spend a couple of hours trying to quickly cobble together a cognizant response to something that has been in the public conversation for quite some time,” Milobar said in the legislature on Monday.
B.C. Green Leader Jeremy Valeriote, meanwhile, said his party couldn’t support passing the bill in a single day.
He said members of the legislature “need time to seek answers from government” about how it intends to resolve issues, including the end of the climate action tax rebate that B.C. residents had come to expect on a quarterly basis and the significant financial shortfall the end of the tax leaves for the province.
“We don’t consider that meeting the convenience of fuel producers or aligning with other provinces is sufficient grounds for urgency,” Valeriote told the legislature.
NDP House Leader Mike Farnworth had earlier told the legislature the bill’s passage was a “matter of confidence” for the government.
Eby told the news conference the bill would pass with his government’s one-seat majority.
“My understanding was that the Conservatives also thought the carbon tax should go, but if they want to vote to keep the carbon tax and go to an election, well, that says a lot about where their priorities are, I think,” he said.
$1.99B impact
A joint statement issued by Eby’s office and the ministries of energy and finance said cancelling the tax and credit will have an estimated impact of $1.99 billion in the coming fiscal year.
Asked about the shortfall, Eby said his government would review the Clean B.C. climate action initiative, part of a review of all government programs.
“There are a large array of programs on both the consumer and the industrial side that are funded through Clean B.C. We’re doing a review of all of that,” he said.
British Columbians will soon have to pay less when they fill up their gas tanks. The province and the federal government are cancelling the consumer carbon tax, effective April 1. But with the disappearance of the associated tax credit, will the cancellation put money back into British Columbian’s pockets?
Eby said he understands the anxiety people feel when they see governments around the world abandoning emissions reduction targets, and B.C. would continue to “fight hard” against climate change.
“We’re going to use our advantages here in the province, our clean electricity that’s cheap and available. We’re going to expand it,” he said.
“We’re going to decarbonize our mines that are mining critical minerals that are needed for the batteries for the economy of the future, which is low carbon.”
Eby said the province would continue to ensure big industrial emitters pay through the output-based carbon-pricing system.
Opposition Leader John Rustad asked Eby in the legislature if he would commit to removing the industrial levy too.
Rustad claimed credit for the consumer tax’s demise, saying Eby “capitulated on his strongly held personal beliefs due to political pressure” from the Opposition.
“This is an amazing flip-flop worthy of an Oscar, but B.C. still has a punishing industrial carbon tax,” Rustad said.
Eby said the carbon tax was introduced by the former B.C. Liberals and Rustad had voted in favour of the initiative multiple times as a member of that government.
“He wants to let big polluters off the hook because he doesn’t think climate change is real,” the premier said of Rustad.
