New carbon tax will cost Northerners

“These added costs to everyday life add up and when politicians increase the carbon tax, they increase the cost of heating, eating and getting to work,” said Sims.

But local Green advocate Makenzie Kerr says taxing carbon is long overdue and there needs to be more attention paid to big users. “We need much more than this, but it needs to be targeting the large businesses that are having the largest impact right now. It’s one cent per litre for individuals so progressively we will get used to it. People adapt. But what really needs to happen is we need to be targeting big polluters.” She says things like slash piles are not part of that carbon reduction plan.

She says the reality is that internal combustion vehicles are heading the way of the dodo bird, soon to be replaced by electric vehicles. But Kerr also notes that there aren’t the resources, such as charging stations, to handle a wholesale switch.

The Taxpayers Federation says while B.C. has had the highest carbon tax in Canada since 2008, emissions in the province are still going up. According to government data, emissions have increased 10 per cent in the past three years and have gone up in five of the last seven years.

“When they first hatched the carbon tax in B.C., politicians told us it would reduce emissions, be revenue neutral and create an abundance of affordable alternative energies and today none of that is true,” said Sims. “Emissions are going up and the carbon tax is just a cash grab.”

The carbon tax is set to increase sharply within the next nine years. Horgan has signed on to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal plan to increase the carbon tax to $170 per tonne by the year 2030. Within the next nine years, it will cost a family $27 extra in the carbon tax every time they fill up their minivan and $45 extra to fill up a pick-up truck.

by Cheryl Jahn

New carbon tax will cost Northerners

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