OTTAWA - Yesterday, both the federal and BC NDP abandoned even their hypocrisy on climate. The No-Discernible-Principles Party has reminded BC voters that it was the BC NDP who coined the slogan "Axe the Tax" nearly two decades before Pierre Poilievre. In fact, that anti-climate action campaign backfired and BC voters voted for the carbon tax in 2009.
Federal leader Jagmeet Singh has now parroted Pierre Poilievre in a fact-free rant that promises we will see NDP climate policy–or maybe a vision–or a hint–some months from now.
In brief, Singh has ignored these key realities:
1. Leading economists and climate policy experts around the world praise revenue-neutral carbon emissions pricing as one of the most important, if not THE most important, tools to combat global warming.
2. We’ve had that tool in place in BC since 2008 and in Canada as a whole since 2018. We know it works! So why would a so-called progressive party turn its back on a proven solution? It’s a backward-looking policy move that is clearly an attempt to pull back votes the NDP is losing to the Conservatives.
3. The NDP can now kiss any meaningful climate policy goodbye.It has been clear for years that Singh would not oppose pipelines for fear of offending Alberta New Democrats nor oppose fracking to keep the BC greenhouse gas boosting NDP on the side.
Now it is clear: climate-concerned voters have only one party on the ballot–federally and provincially–and it is Green.
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For background on carbon pricing, a new book by BC climate expert Tom Pedersen is highly recommended: https://thewalrus.ca/the-carbon-tax-is-good-for-canadians-why-axe-it/
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