B.C. Liberals pledge to freeze carbon tax five years if re-elected

VICTORIA – British Columbia’s carbon tax will be frozen at current rates if Premier Christy Clark’s Liberals are re-elected May 14.

The B.C. Liberal Party says freezing the tax for five years gives other jurisdictions more time to catch up to B.C., which currently taxes carbon dioxide emissions at $30 per tonne or about seven cents per litre of gasoline.

B.C. introduced the tax in 2008 as part of the Liberal government’s legislated goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by one-third by 2020.

NDP environmental critic Rob Fleming says the freeze will make it impossible for the province to meet that target, but he won’t say what the NDP will do with the tax until the party unveils its election platform.

The Pembina Institute is also criticising the plan to freeze the tax, saying it’s helping reduce the amount of fossil fuels being burned in the province with little effect on the economy.

Pembina’s climate change campaigner Matt Horne says the five-year freeze amounts to a commitment to inaction by the Liberals and ignores the evidence that the policy is working. (The Canadian Press,CKNW)