Truemors
With a provincial election fast approaching in May 2009, the ruling British Columbia Liberal Party has been trying to sell itself as a world leader in climate action initiatives. One of its strategies is to implement a carbon tax that will be applied to gasoline, diesel, natural gas, coal, propane and home heating fuel purchases, effective 1 July 2008.
The government claims it is a necessary measure designed to encourage the public to walk, cycle and ride public transit more and to reduce our consumption of energy in a world on the verge of ecological disaster. The tax is advertised as revenue neutral, i.e., offset by reductions in personal income and corporate tax, though some dispute that claim and the economist who invented eco-footprint analysis takes issue with the government's justification for the tax.
At the same time as the Liberal government claims to be a world leader in environmental policy making, it has decided to transfer ownership rights to more than 500 parts of BC's wild rivers to private corporations that will build hundreds of run-of-river dams to generate power even though the province is not forecast to be in short supply of hydroelectricity. The BC Liberals are also widening Highway 1 and twinning the Port Mann Bridge which environmental group the Wilderness Committee claims "will drastically increase the lower mainland's contribution to greenhouse emissions that cause global warming and pollution levels in the region." There is a contradiction between the eco-friendly image the government is trying to sell and the actions it intends to carry out. On the one hand the BC Liberals claim they are pro-environment, while on the other they are needless destroyers of it.
The financial burden should not be borne entirely by the public. Applying stiff taxes on non-renewable fuel producers and auto makers that build fossil fuel powered vehicles will force corporations to develop eco-conscious alternatives and make them available for public consumption. The Green Party apparently adores Premier Campbell's plan, but I'm not certain it is aware how it hurts the middle and lower classes. The failure of the Green Party's thinking on this issue lies in ignoring the socioeconomic ramifications. The environment is certainly a chief concern, but more balanced and fair approach is required.
The Liberals and Greens have left corporate polluters out of the equation, in fact offers them huge tax cuts at the same time as they are reaping record profits. What we need is a plan to combat global warming in a manner that won't further exploit the working and middle classes who are already hurting with fuel prices as high as they are. Polluters must share in the responsibility. I am surprised the Green Party isn't more open to the idea of taxing corporate polluters and providing them with incentives to change.
A recent poll suggests 82% of BC residents favour taxing industrial polluters at the source rather than taxing energy consumers. With an election around the corner, the Liberal Party has seen fit to send every man, woman and child in the province a one-time payment of $100 marketed as a "climate action dividend." To answer your question as to how I will spend my pre-election bribe money, I will donate it to the Save Our Rivers Society, which has been fighting the government's push to privatize public power in the province.
Carol James, leader of the opposition New Democratic Party, offers criticism and an alternative to the Liberal tax.
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