The B.C. Green Party is promising to give British Columbians higher carbon tax rebates while raising the rates on big polluters.
Leader Sonia Furstenau presented her party's plan to reform the carbon tax, a key election issue, on Wednesday.
The tax currently sits at $80 per tonne of carbon-dioxide equivalent and is scheduled to go up $15 per tonne every year until 2030 when it will hit $170 per tonne.
The Greens propose to keep this pace, moving from $80 per tonne to $110 per tonne in 2026. But they are also proposing to increase the rebate by eliminating current exemptions enjoyed by industries. Every emitted tonne will be taxed equally, ensuring that "big polluters pay their fair share," the party said in a backgrounder.
Furstenau said this change would generate about $1 billion in additional revenues, with that going toward what the party calls "community climate action initiatives," in addition to the higher rebates. It is not clear yet how much of the additional money would end up in the pockets of British Columbians and how much would go toward projects.
"While I cannot give you exact numbers right now, what I can tell you is that British Columbians will see more in the rebate cheques and that communities can count on the government being able to provide the funds they need to make their communities, more resilient and more able to mitigate against these growing, more frequent climate events," she said.
B.C Conservatives have promised to eliminate the tax completely while the B.C. NDP under have promised to eliminate the consumer portion of the tax if the legal requirement for it would end while making big polluters pay.
Delegates attending the 2024 Union of British Columbia Municipalities Convention last week passed an emergency resolution warning against ending the carbon tax. Academic experts have in the past also called for carbon tax money to go toward projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Currently, 65 per cent of all households will receive full or partial rebates after the government raised the threshold on July 1, with 1.3 million receiving full rebates.
The Greens plan to maintain the carbon tax while reforming it, citing research that considers carbon taxation the most effective way to combat climate change.
"Climate change is expensive," Furstenau said. "It's making everything cost more, from groceries to home insurance."
She added that neither the B.C. Conservatives nor provincial New Democrats have a plan to pay for what she called the "spiralling cost" of climate change.
"B.C. Conservatives don't believe in the climate emergency and the B.C. NDP is happy to throw climate action under the bus by cancelling the (consumer portion of the) carbon tax and continuing to subsidize fossil fuels," Furstenau said.
Eby had announced his government's plans just before the start of the election citing affordability concerns. That move earned him criticism from environmentalists and charges of hypocrisy from conservatives. But a Research Co. poll released Wednesday finds seven-in-10 supporting the New Democratic proposal. Fewer, approximately half, say they would end the tax completely.
Overall, public support for carbon taxation has been declining and some economists have pointed toward it as a drag on consumer spending and the economy at large.
