By Shuswap MLA Greg Kyllo

Expect more pain at the pump in the coming months

Mar 28, 2019 | 2:42 PM

JOHN HORGAN AND THE NDP talk a lot about making life more affordable for British Columbians. But when it comes to gas prices, don’t expect any relief ahead of summer road trip season — thanks to the government’s tinkering with the carbon tax.

When our former government introduced this tax in 2008, we followed a few key principles. First off, the tax would be broad-based and apply to virtually all fossil fuels. Secondly, the tax would be phased in to give individuals, businesses and industry time to adapt and innovate. Thirdly, there would be protection for lower-income households, which received an annual Climate Action Credit of $115 per adult and $35 per child.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, we made sure it was revenue-neutral. The tax would help address climate change, while ensuring all revenues it generated were offset by seeing the equivalent amount returned to British Columbians in the form of tax cuts.

However, as soon as the NDP came into power in 2017 they removed the tax’s revenue neutrality. Of the $6 billion in revenue the government is raising in carbon tax revenue, a whopping 15 per cent will be going back to the greenhouse gas reduction strategies in its CleanBC plan— that’s it. The rest will go into general revenue, essentially becoming a $6 billion tax grab that will pay for the NDP’s pet projects. This may be a good way to increase taxes, but it’s no way to make life more affordable for people.

Not only this, but the NDP have also significantly raised the carbon tax in each successive year since coming to power and they are raising it again on April 1. As a condition of the NDP’s power sharing agreement with the Green Party, the NDP has committed to increase the carbon tax by $5 per tonne each year to bring the carbon tax to $50 per tonne by 2021.

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This will have an impact on the price you pay at the pump. GasBuddy.com’s Dan McTeague is predicting the price of gas will hit $1.60 this weekend and muses this could be the ‘new normal’– so get used to it.

But the situation could get even costlier, based on the outcome of the upcoming Alberta election. If Jason Kenney wins and makes good on a threat to ‘turn off the taps’ to B.C. if our NDP government continues to block the Trans Mountain pipeline, McTeague predicts gas prices in B.C. could approach the $2.00 per litre mark. 

But consider what could happen if John Horgan and the NDP stopped putting up obstacles to this important project. McTeague projects that if the Trans Mountain expansion project proceeded, gas prices would go down about 10 cents a litre.

So the reality is, there are things the premier and his government could do to make life more affordable for you. They could restore the revenue neutrality of the carbon tax, and stop blocking projects that are in the best interests of our economy — and your pocketbook.