As British Columbians come to terms with the new carbon-pricing reality, those of us in the rural B.C., areas continue to wonder when the provincial government will recognize the growing disparity between living in urban centres like Vancouver and Surrey versus places like Fraser Lake and Dawson Creek.
It’s not complicated to understand the carbon tax in its original form: a revenue neutral system that provided funding for environmental initiatives.
We’ve since deviated exponentially from this.
What’s hard to understand is why B.C. residents face a wage-tested model, while other provincial and territorial jurisdictions implemented a more inclusive model. That said, I would posit that a Vancouverite has greater access to carbon-reducing travel options than someone living in Vanderhoof.
Everything will cost more to get here, be sold here and be consumed here.
If the government is interested in showing it truly has a grasp on the challenges facing communities throughout their legislative region, the Premier should come to B.C.’s rural regions to announce that residents in areas requiring greater travel for work and shopping be brought into the carbon tax rebate program, without wage testing.
Northerners need multiple fuel options
Reaching -40 Celsius is not uncommon in the north. In fact, it’s a pretty regular occurrence. Levying carbon taxes, without recompense, on residents who must use every available energy format to heat their homes, cook their food, warm up their vehicles, and keep their families safe, is frustrating at best.
Now, I know someone in Victoria will read this and say “Get a heat pump!”
I did.
The fact remains that when the mercury drops to a certain level, I thank my lucky stars that our forced-air natural gas furnace kicks in providing warmth to us, because the heat pump can’t.
Carbon tax will raise costs across the board for rural residents
B.C. was built on forestry. The industry provided stable, good-paying jobs that saw the birth of communities along the corridors, to the coast, along with significant rail infrastructure.
Now, the government appears to be doing as little as possible to assist our founding industry. We are seeing workers needing to travel greater distances to find opportunities that even remotely match their previous forestry compensation. And, in doing so, they face the brunt of the carbon tax…with no rebate.
Back in the early 2010’s, I was living in Yellowknife and marveled at the price of food, particularly fresh fruit and vegetables. It made healthy eating incredibly challenging, as your grocery bill could double with a lot of fresh foods.
This trend is now hitting rural communities in B.C.
As the carbon tax rises, so will the cost of farming, packaging, and transportation – and you can be assured that those incremental increases are passed on to consumers.
As the carbon tax rises, so will the cost of farming, packaging, and transportation.
In the Lower Mainland, those additional charges are mitigated by limited delivery distances. In rural areas, long travel is unavoidable. Everything will cost more to get here, be sold here and be consumed here. But, again, wage tested vs. usage requirement tested.
Time to embrace the province’s strengths
As Jock Finlayson and Ken Peacock pointed out in Business in Vancouver in November 2023, the government’s own modelling shows the economy will be $28.1 billion smaller by 2030.
That’s six years from now. One-and-a-half election cycles, if a snap isn’t called during that time.
Canada as a whole contributes less than 1.5 per cent of the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, yet we are taxing residents at a much higher rate. And, in B.C., a significant portion of those taxes are going to general coffers, while still budgeting to an eye-watering $7.9 billion deficit.
At a time of stagnated growth, lack of economic policy, and a narrow view of energy initiatives as a pathway to true economic reconciliation, we expect our elected representatives to shelve ideological beliefs for better-informed decision making.
We expect our elected representatives to shelve ideological beliefs for better-informed decision making.
Premier Eby did move the Northwest Resource Benefit Alliance across the finish line in Budget 2024 – a long-overdue and welcome advancement for the communities that have supported major projects in B.C. for decades, if not centuries.
To truly move British Columbia forward through economic challenges, fairly, and with First Nations partnerships at our core, government needs to recognize the realities rural residents face and embrace the province’s strengths in the resource sectors. Then B.C. can fully realize a significant role in assisting global markets develop better environmental outcomes.
That should be our legacy. That can be our legacy.