File photo (Image credit: CFJC Today).

By Michael Reeve

BC ELECTION 2024

ELECTION ISSUES: Kamloops candidates on tackling climate change and the environment

Oct 17, 2024 | 6:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — An early campaign political football — the B.C. carbon tax — is now set to be axed by both the BC Conservatives and the BC NDP, should they be elected this weekend. The only party campaigning on keeping the tax is the BC Green Party. While two parties are now promising to remove the tax, it won’t have an effect on residents, as the B.C. carbon tax would immediately be replaced with the federal one, resulting in no change for consumers.

The Interior of B.C. has been ravaged in recent years by natural disasters like wildfires in places like Lytton in 2021, the Shuswap in 2023, floods throughout the Nicola Valley in 2021, and persistent year-over-year drought conditions. Prevention and adaptation are key topics for the NDP.

“We’ve developed the training program for wildfire fighting at TRU (Thompson Rivers University), we have made wildfire prevention and fighting all year round in Kamloops. And we really look forward to doing more prevention and moving forward — especially in collaboration with First Nations communities,” said NDP candidate for Kamloops-North-Thompson, Maddi Genn.

The Green Party is trying to show the link between the environment and the economy of the province. While also bringing community into decisions around wildfire prevention.

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“We are looking at protecting bio-diversity and we are proposing to go to 30 per cent protected areas. Our bio-diversity, our ecosystems are stressed and the more we can do to protect them at this stage will help us to ensure those things move forward in the future in a healthy manner,” said Kamloops Centre Green candidate Randy Sunderman.

The BC Conservatives are looking to ensure the BC Wildfire Service can increase initial attack and knock down fires quicker.

“Trying to reduce the risk, trying to reduce the impact in our interface areas, we have to be proactive. We have to make sure we are FireSmarting our communities. We have to make sure we are reducing that risk and that also reducing the emissions that are created by those wildfires,” stated Ward Stamer, BC Conservative candidate for Kamloops-North-Thompson.

The Tories are also pushing for more diversity in B.C.’s energy production while also increasing electrification.

“We have to look at other initiatives. We need to look at natural gas generation,” said Stamer. “Every time you take a vehicle off the highway and replace it with natural gas, we save over 50 per cent right there. We need to be innovative in being able to create our own electricity for now and in the future and not rely on somebody else.”

For the Green Party, lowering greenhouse gas emissions starts with stopping several liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects and increasing public transit.

“Those six (LNG) projects, if they go ahead, will increase the greenhouse gases in BC by 40 per cent. That will put us way off our target so that is extremely important. Also, our initiative around free transit — we are looking at having free transit and encourage people to use the transit,” added Sunderman.

While the NDP are now on board with scrapping the carbon tax if the federal tax is removed, Genn spoke to the other work done by government over the past seven years.

“Clean BC is one of the most robust climate programs in our country right now and I am really, really proud for the opportunity to continue that progress and make sure we are continuing to lower our emissions,” said Genn.

Election day is this Saturday

On Friday (Oct 18), we will wrap up our election issues coverage with public safety concerns. Tuesday’s story was on health care challenges and Wednesday’s piece featured housing and affordability.

CFJC will also have election coverage focusing on both Kamloops ridings, as well as the Cariboo-Chilcotin, Fraser-Nicola and Salmon Arm-Shuswap on Saturday night, beginning at 11:00 p.m.