B.C. premier accused of ‘flip-flopping’ on provincial carbon tax policy

Premier David Eby says he’ll cut B.C.’s carbon tax if the federal government removes a requirement for provinces to enforce their own carbon pricing rules.

The move would be an apparent aboutface from Eby’s previous position on the issue.

He has said even if Ottawa “axes the tax,” — a policy for which federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been pushing — B.C. would uphold a provincial tax.

But in an announcement Thursday, Eby said the context for British Columbians has changed.

“A lot of British Columbians are struggling with affordability. And the political consensus that we had in British Columbia has been badly damaged by the approach of the federal government to this issue,” said Eby.

Eby says if Ottawa gets rid of the legal backstop requiring provinces to run their own carbon pricing or be subject to the federal tax, B.C. will also scrap its own.

It’s the latest in a line of changing tides when it comes to carbon taxes: earlier today, Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who has voted to uphold the federal tax a number of times, also suggested he no longer supports it.

B.C. Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau says the NDP appears to be making up its climate policy on the fly.

Meanwhile, B.C. Conservatives Leader John Rustad, who pledged to get rid of the tax months ago, is calling Eby a “flip-flopping” liar who only changed his mind on the tax because of political pressure.

“David Eby’s sudden reversal on the carbon tax is a desperate attempt to salvage his sinking political ship,” said Rustad in a release on the party’s website Thursday. 

Rustad arranged a sudden press conference Thursday afternoon to address his opponent’s announcement.

“I don’t think that the public are looking for a premier who is that wishy-washy and flipping back and forth in terms of its policies, especially on something that David Eby claimed to be such a major piece, and a cornerstone, to the to the NDP and what they’re trying to do in British Columbia,” said Rustad.

Rustad promised that, if elected, his party would end the provincial carbon tax within its first budget as government.

When asked about the environmental impact, Rustad said he is “laser focused” on other crises of affordability, housing, crime, and addiction management.