Isra-Mart srl : Candidates take a swing at 'out of touch' axe-the-tax carbon concept

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Candidates for the leadership of the provincial NDP have axed former party head Carole James’s controversial "axe-the-tax" opposition to B.C.’s groundbreaking levy on carbon.

“I think we made a mistake in the last election. We as a party got it wrong,” said Mike Farnworth, speaking during an all-candidates' debate this weekend in Vancouver.

“We were out of touch with the majority of British Columbians and I think that is one of the key reasons why we lost the last election.”

The New Democrats’ aggressive opposition to the carbon tax in the period leading up to the 2009 election upset many NDP supporters and outraged many environmental activists, including David Suzuki.

Port Coquitlam MLA Farnworth was joined by the other two front-runners in the NDP leadership race — Adrian Dix and John Horgan — in calling for the carbon tax to remain.

The provincial carbon tax, one unique in North America, is a levy on greenhouse gas emissions generated by burning fossil fuels. Under the B.C. Liberals, the carbon tax has been revenue-neutral with revenue from the tax recycled through tax reductions.

NDP leadership candidate Dix said that as premier he would get rid of the carbon tax’s revenue-neutrality by rolling back corporate taxes to 2008.

The MLA for Vancouver-Kingsway wants to use revenue from the carbon tax to fund transit, green infrastructure and address social inequality.

Dix said the B.C. Liberals’ plan is “to tax carbon to give the money to big corporations and disproportionately to the wealthy. And so if you want to use that money, you’ve got to roll back those tax cuts.”

Dix told about 200 New Democrats who gathered at a community centre in the Olympic Village area that a strong environmental policy is critical to the party’s prospects in the next election.

“There is a huge opportunity for us to do that. Christy Clark is opposed essentially to environmental assessment, we’re in favour. She favours the Enbridge Pipeline, we’re opposed. She favours offshore oil and gas, we’re opposed to it.”

Dix pointed out that newly-minted premier Clark even disagreed with Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision to not allow the proposed Prosperity mine near Williams Lake to proceed because of major adverse environmental effects.

Candidate Horgan said the NDP “failed” to understand the support that existed for a carbon tax before the last election.

The Juan de Fuca MLA said the NDP now needs to “show that we can aggressively tackle climate change by ensuring that we have a carbon price regime in place that will work in British Columbia but will also be something other jurisdictions can pick up.”

Horgan said that Premier Clark revealed her lack of concern for the environment by recruiting Gwyn Morgan, former CEO of gas giant Encana, as part of her transition team. Morgan has been a strong critic of climate change legislation.

Farnworth, in an interview after the debate, said about the NDP’s previous opposition to the carbon tax in 2008 and 2009: “We misread the public. I certainly heard from loads of people that our position on the carbon tax influenced their vote — in that they either didn’t vote or voted for another party.”

Nicholas Simons, another leadership candidate, called for a Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change Action. to make recommendations to the provincial government. The MLA for Powell River-Sunshine Coast said the assembly could bring scientists together with community members to examine the latest data and solution for reducing green house gas emissions.

The fifth leadership candidate, marijuana activist Dana Larsen called for hemp to be used as a form of renewable energy.

All the candidates were opposed to BC Hydro’s power purchase agreements with independent power producers and to the proposed Site C Dam hydroelectric project in the Peace River Valley.