ndp climate change

Mon, 2009-04-20 16:51Kevin Grandia
Kevin Grandia's picture

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).

Read more: BC NDP endorsed carbon tax at 2007 Provincial Convention
Mon, 2009-04-20 12:31Kevin Grandia
Kevin Grandia's picture

Environment think tank hits back on NDP's National Roundtable claim

The Pembina Institute, a top Canadian environmental think tank, released a statement late last week in reaction to the BC NDP's claim that a recent report released by National Roundtable on Environment and Economy supports their intention to scrap the BC carbon tax.

Matt Horne, Director of BC Energy Solutions for the Pembina Institute said: 

"The National Round Table report says that Canada needs an economy-wide price on carbon as soon as possible. Experts agree that this could be accomplished through either a carbon tax or a cap and trade system. The Round Table is opting for cap and trade only to align with federal government policy.

The B.C. NDP's proposal for a limited cap on industrial emitters would only cover up to 32 per cent of B.C.'s pollution, whereas B.C.'s carbon tax covers 76 per cent. So rather than being consistent with the Round Table's call for an economy-wide price, the NDP's proposal would take B.C. in the opposite direction."

The NDP's assertion that a carbon tax would cost more than a cap and trade system is simply wrong, and is not supported by the Round Table report." (my emphasis)

Read more: Environment think tank hits back on NDP's National Roundtable claim
Mon, 2009-04-13 21:45Richard Littlemore
Richard Littlemore's picture

Top environmental groups denounce BC's New Democratic Party

On the eve of an election campaign in British Columbia, three of Canada's leading enviromental organizations held a press conference on Tuesday condemning a New Democratic Party promise to let B.C. polluters off the hook, despite the damage that might do to the environment or the economy.

The David Suzuki Foundation, the Pembina Institute and Forest Ethics jointly stated that "thousands of jobs in the green economy will be lost, and the province will lose its position as an environmental leader if the (first North American carbon) tax is dropped."

"The NDP has chosen what they think will be a publicly acceptable but climate-irresponsible approach. And that is, they want to step backward the pricing of carbon and backwards on the policies that are in place in the hopes that that may get them elected," Merran Smith, a climate director with ForestEthics, said Monday.

The carbon tax, passed by the reigning Liberal government last spring and implemented (awkwardly) just as oil prices peaked last July, has been hailed in environmental and economics circles as the fairest, most comprehensive and most transparent tax on fossil fuel pollution. The NDP alternative, on the other hand, was roundly criticized, most recently by the renowned BC economist, Dr. Marc Jaccard, who estimated that the NDP's own plan for climate change could cost the province as many as 60,000 jobs by 2020.

Read more: Top environmental groups denounce BC's New Democratic Party
Subscribe to ndp climate change