New Democratic Party MLAs voted against B.C.'s new carbon tax last night, taking a calculated risk that the support they can reap in rural British Columbia will outweigh the enmity of influential environmentalists.
The ground-breaking tax, which takes effect on July 1, has won the support of a coalition of 16 environmental organizations. It has also angered northern communities, suburban commuters and businesses, small and large.
Some of the NDP MLAs physically turned their backs on the vote yesterday to show their disdain.
NDP Leader Carole James told reporters the tax is unfair, but she's still arguing her point with environmentalists who have traditionally supported her party.
"We continue to have a good relationship, we agree to disagree. I don't believe the carbon tax is fair, I don't believe it's equitable and I don't believe it'll work," she said. "We need a real climate action plan."
But Susan Howatt, campaign director for the Sierra Club of B.C., said the NDP members are misguided.
"I'm profoundly disappointed in the New Democrats," she said.
"We are living in stunning political times, never before in the history of our country has the environment been a ballot box issue and Gordon Campbell's reputation is soaring on this."
Ian Bruce, a climate-change specialist with the David Suzuki Foundation, also called the NDP position disappointing.
"Across the country, Canadians have been looking for leaders who will take action on climate change," he said. "The carbon tax has been one of the most promising tools the government has introduced, it's an essential tool to tackle global warming."
Earlier in the week, federal NDP Leader Jack Layton outlined a "carbon-pricing" scheme that takes some pages from the B.C. carbon tax book. His new plan was outlined just days after he was assailed by leading environmentalists.
Resource economist Mark Jaccard said the B.C. NDP may have miscalculated in reading the tax, and the public mood.
"The carbon tax is heavily weighted to low-income earners. I have run a lot of scenarios and no matter what, low-income earners are better off."
Finance Minister Carole Taylor, who marked her last day yesterday in the legislature as a cabinet minister, said she considers the carbon tax a high point of her political career.
"I think we'll look back at this time and we'll see this as the turning point for B.C."
She described the NDP's opposition to it as astounding.
"I am very surprised at the NDP - a lot of their supporters have been environmentalists who are concerned about the green agenda, so I honestly expected they might support it."
NDP House Leader Mike Farnworth, whose suburban riding of Port Coquitlam-Burke Mountain includes a large number of commuters, believes it is the Liberals who have miscalculated.
"They are ramming through a tax increase without debate that will make life more difficult for British Columbians. The government says it's revenue-neutral: It's not revenue-neutral to my constituents, it's not revenue-neutral to school districts or hospitals and it's certainly not revenue-neutral to northern residents."
The carbon tax aims to curb greenhouse-gas emissions by putting a price on fossil fuel consumption. The surcharge starts at $10 per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions in the first year, climbing to $30 per tonne by 2012.
At service stations across the province, that will translate to a price increase of about 2.5 cents per litre of gasoline starting July 1. By 2012, the increase to a litre of gasoline will be about 7.25 cents per litre.
Justine Hunter