Premier Gordon Campbell's special adviser on climate change says he fears critical and political pressure could prompt the Liberal government to back off the province's carbon tax.
Mark Jaccard, a noted resource economist at Simon Fraser University, made the comments in an interview yesterday shortly after he joined other academics at a news conference to argue for the tax linked to a 2.34-cent rise in gasoline prices on Canada Day. By 2012, the tax will be at seven cents a litre.
"I've seen politicians reverse themselves before after reading polls, so I want to see a good public discourse out there," Prof. Jaccard said. "I would say this is not a done deal at all."
Prof. Jaccard is a member of B.C.'s Climate Action Team, which was formed to provide feedback to the province's plan to cut greenhouse-gas emissions one-third by 2020. He is also a special adviser to the cabinet committee on climate action.
He did not disclose any insider information on the government's intentions, but said he thinks a reversal can't be ruled out as a possibility.
He noted that the Liberals are facing a provincial election next May. Mr. Campbell and his party will be seeking a third consecutive term, and the Premier has warned supporters that a loss of seven seats could plunge the party into opposition.
"If [the Liberal government] see that the NDP, by misinformation or whatever, have gotten hold of a policy that might just help them win an election, then I wouldn't be surprised if the government dropped it, and I think that would set us back a huge amount," he said.
Prof. Jaccard, a critic of the Liberals in the past, is a fan of the B.C. tax, calling it "the best carbon tax I have seen in the world."
Were he advising an NDP government, he said he would urge it to adopt the same tax. It will be applied to all fossil fuels, starting at $10 a tonne of carbon and rising by $5 a year for the next four years, capping out at $30 a tonne in 2012.
He described the opposition's objections, which have included an "Axe-the-Gas-Tax" campaign, as "political posturing" that has prompted him to speak out.
The NDP, which has decried the tax as developed without consultation and imposing an unfair cost on British Columbians, is calling on the Liberal government to withdraw it. NDP Leader Carole James repeated that suggestion yesterday in Williams Lake, where the mayor recently mused about having the community refuse to pay the tax on municipal energy bills as a form of protest.
But Mr. Campbell yesterday showed no signs of changing course.
The Premier took calls on Bill Good's morning show on CKNW Radio, and later defended the tax in a scrum with reporters after an announcement on an unrelated matter. Throughout, he noted that revenues from the tax will go into tax cuts, touted a $100 climate-action dividend that has been sent out to voters, and highlighted his government's record of cutting taxes in other areas.
The Premier, who has emphasized the economic arguments for the tax, also tried a more emotional argument yesterday, noting that his grandparents and parents made sacrifices for their children. "I think it's time for our generation to be a little bit selfless, to take responsibility for our actions," he said.
He noted, in both appearances, that he will become a grandparent later this year, with both of his sons fathering children.
"As a grandparent, I am going to look at those kids, and I am going to want to say to them, 'We did everything [we] could to make sure they had the kind of world that they deserved,' and that means we all have to be willing to make some change," he said.
Mr. Campbell also said he was willing to work with federal Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion to harmonize Mr. Dion's proposed carbon tax with the B.C. policy.
A spokesman for Mr. Dion told The Globe and Mail that their offices have held talks about the two plans.
Mr. Campbell responded to that suggestion yesterday.
"I am expecting our plan will work in harmony with either federal party's plan," he said. "Both federal leaders have said to me - the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition - they have no intention of interfering with our plan, that they want to give us the chance to do what we think is right for British Columbia."
