BC Kills ‘Toxic’ Consumer Carbon Tax in One Day

The B.C. government took less than 24 hours to axe the province's consumer carbon tax and associated rebates Monday.

“The tax has become divisive,” said Premier David Eby, citing campaigns against it by federal and provincial Conservatives. “The policy has run its course. British Columbians do not support it, they don’t want it, they don’t want to see it and we’re removing it. We listen to the people.”

It was 1:49 a.m. Tuesday morning before the bill had passed through all the stages to become law and been given royal assent by Lt.-Gov. Wendy Cocchia.

In September, ahead of B.C.’s provincial election, Eby promised that if the federal government removed the legal backstop requiring provinces to have a consumer carbon tax, B.C. would remove the tax it has had in place since 2008.

On March 14, shortly after becoming prime minister, Mark Carney followed through on a leadership campaign promise by signing a cabinet order reducing the carbon tax rate to zero.

B.C.’s legislature was not scheduled to meet in the two weeks since Carney removed the backstop, leaving Monday as the only sitting day before the start of the new fiscal year.

“We can’t be the only province in Canada with a significant carbon tax and expect our goods to be able to compete and expect British Columbians to be able to deal with the affordability challenges that they face,” Eby said.

Removing the carbon tax should reduce the price of gasoline by 17 cents a litre, he said, adding that the British Columbia Utilities Commission has the tools to shed light on whether any companies take the opportunity to increase their profits.

B.C.’s budget presented in February anticipated $3 billion in revenue from the carbon tax this fiscal year, some of which is from the carbon tax that is applied to industry. The government is keeping that tax in place.

Asked how the government would fill the gap in revenue from removing the consumer carbon tax, Eby said, “we’ll be restructuring significant parts of the CleanBC program.”

The province does not plan to roll back individual and corporate tax cuts that were associated with the introduction of the carbon tax, but it will stop sending rebate payments to individuals and families, he said.

The credit provided $504 a year to individuals with incomes under $41,000.

“People will not be receiving the climate action tax credit going forward,” said Eby. “This is significant for many British Columbians. That payment will not be happening anymore as a result of the elimination of the carbon tax.”

B.C. will continue to fight climate change in ways that grow the economy and help people with the cost of daily life, he said. “The bottom line is climate change is real. We can see it here in British Columbia. The forest fires, the floods, the atmospheric rivers. We have to take action. We’re going to continue to take action.”

During Question Period this morning, the Opposition sought more details on what the government would cut to make up the shortfall.

“This budget is focused on a number of specific things,” said Finance Minister Brenda Bailey. “One is protecting core services for British Columbians. We know in these times of uncertainty and threat from the south, this is not the time to make big cuts for people.”

The government is also reviewing its spending, she said. “This is about ensuring that every dollar that British Columbians trust us with is well deployed. It's normal to do a review and take a look and make sure that things are landing exactly as we wanted them to. We're doing that work now.”

BC Conservative Leader John Rustad said the government should get rid of the carbon tax completely, including the part that applies to industry.

“We think it’s a job killer,” Rustad said. “It’s also hurting affordability in British Columbia.”

He said it was “pure incompetence” that the government rushed through legislation in one day instead of “dealing with this appropriately in the previous weeks.”

BC Green MLA Rob Botterell who represents North Saanich and the Islands, said he is concerned the bill fails to address the $3 billion loss of revenue, help struggling families who will lose climate action tax credits or reduce carbon emissions.

“If you’re going to take out the consumer carbon tax, what are you going to replace it with?” he asked. “We’ve had a huge increase in emissions.”

The bill takes B.C. further away from meeting its targets for carbon-emission reductions, he said. “This bill is one small step that doesn’t deal with all the issues it creates,” he said. “Struggling families that rely on the carbon tax rebate are going to now be empty-handed, increasing the affordability crisis they already face.”

The Greens opposed the bill at various stages as it moved through debate, but nobody voted against the bill at the final reading.