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B.C. NDP leader John Horgan arrives at Provincial Court in Vancouver on May 17, 2016.DARRYL DYCK/The Globe and Mail

British Columbia's Opposition New Democrats released what they described as a "made-in-B.C." climate plan on Thursday, ahead of the spring election, promising to impose stricter targets for greenhouse gas emissions while shying away from aggressive increases to the province's carbon tax.

The NDP plan, which also includes expanding an existing carbon-tax rebate, comes ahead of a campaign in which climate change and environmental concerns related to pipelines are expected to be significant issues. The New Democrats will be seeking to differentiate themselves from the governing B.C. Liberals, who were once praised as environmental leaders for introducing the country's first carbon tax but have been criticized in recent years for falling behind.

"Since [Premier] Christy Clark came to power, our emissions have been going up and our ability to address that has been going down," NDP Leader John Horgan said. "I think it's ripe during this election campaign to talk about how we can make B.C. better and take advantage of the innovation and other economic opportunities we have here in B.C."

British Columbia became an early adopter of carbon pricing in 2007, but the tax has been frozen at $30 a tonne since 2012.

A climate leadership team appointed by the Premier issued a report last year that recommended increasing B.C.'s carbon tax by $10 a tonne every year starting in 2018 and continuing those increases for the next three decades.

But Ms. Clark's government rejected that recommendation. Instead, in December, the Premier signed onto a less aggressive federal climate-change agreement that requires provinces to implement either a carbon tax of $50 a tonne by 2022 or a cap-and-trade system.

Likewise, the NDP proposal sticks with the federal target of $50 by 2020, though the party says increases would begin sooner than under the Liberals and be more gradual: an additional $6 a tonne in 2020, $7 in 2021 and $8 in 2022.

To offset the impact of the tax, the province offers a rebate program, which currently applies to about 40 per cent of households – with 65 per cent of the money going to corporate cuts, according to Mr. Horgan. The NDP plan calls for that to be expanded to 80 per cent of households, increasing the proportion going to low- and middle-income families.

And while the Liberal government insists its carbon tax is "revenue neutral," with the money used to fund tax breaks elsewhere, an NDP government would spend a "portion" of the revenue on energy-efficiency programs, clean tech and initiatives to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

The NDP's announcement represents an about-face of the party's previous position. In 2009, the NDP campaigned to "axe the tax" and criticized the BC Liberals' plan to offer rebates as pandering.

The NDP is also committing to meeting B.C.'s legislated greenhouse gas emission-reduction target of 12.6 megatonnes by 2050, including an interim target of 40-per-cent reduction from 2007 levels by 2030. The party says it would implement a staggered sector-by-sector approach instead of a flat rate. Both proposals mirrored other recommendations made by Ms. Clark's own climate-leadership team.

The Liberal government has conceded the province will miss its target of reducing emissions by 33 per cent below 2007 levels by the end of 2020. In December, a study for the Pembina Institute estimated British Columbia would not meet its 2050 target, either. In fact, the study predicted British Columbia would be at almost six times that target by 2050 at 66 megatonnes.

The Liberal Party immediate panned the NDP plan as a "scheme" to tax British Columbians and use the money on "pet projects." Environment Minister Mary Polak warned the plan would increase the price of everything from lettuce to diapers.

"B.C. is already leading the way globally with our revenue-neutral carbon tax," Ms. Polak said in a statement.

Green Leader Andrew Weaver, the only member of the party in the provincial legislature, called the NDP's approach ludicrous and empty.

"The B.C. NDP are making a bunch of noise about their made-in-B.C. plan, but it's actually a made-in-Ottawa plan," he said.

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