BC NDP endorsed carbon tax at 2007 Provincial Convention
Prior to the BC Liberal government introducing a carbon tax last year, the NDP seemed to like the policy. At the 2007 Provincial NDP party convention [pdf], they adopted unanimously a sustainability report stating that:
"Effective Climate Change Initiatives: apply carbon taxes to motivate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by ensuring that of fossil fuels reflect the environmental and social costs of their production and use, while building in “just transition” measures to minimize impacts on low-income households."
Since then, the website where the NDP originally posted this statement has been revised to:
"apply carbon pricing to motivate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by ensuring that prices of fossil fuels reflect the environmental and social costs of their production and use, while building in “just transition” measures to minimize impacts on low-income households"
The Sustainable BC report was originally drafted by the NDP Standing Committee on the Environment for an Ecologically and Economically Sustainable Future (SCOEE).
The scrubbed quote also lives on near the 16-minute mark of a video the NDP produced in conjunction with their Sustainable BC plan.
Here's a screenshot:
(click image to enlarge)
The new NDP is not what it used to be. I wonder what Ed Broadbent and David Lewis would be saying? Remember insisting upon thinking over dogma? Remember integrity? Placing ideals above personal ambition? True New Democrats must take their party back from self agrandizing myopic leadership lest there will remain no one that desreves their vote.
Anyone who has followed political parties' policy conventions knows that convention policy does not always translate into election or government policy. So it is no surprise that there are differences in policy positions on a number of issues.
But while we are on the subject, your readers may be interested in a few resolutions passed at the BC Liberals 2006 convention, on specific environmental issues that the government has acted on:
The first two, if implemented, would create massive new reserves of carbon fuels, at a time when we should be reducing dependence on fossil fuels. It also opens the door to offshore oil spills and the attendant environmental impacts.
There is now no scientific doubt that the Liberals' continued support for expanded open-net fish farms is jeopardizing the wild salmon resource. And yet, they continue to expand operations with no commitment to contain sea lice or escapement.