Yet more proof that under our current political leadership, people are choosing the least worst option, rather than the best option.
Yesterday the David Suzuki Foundation and two other groups, officially shunned the BC NDP due to their key platform promise to eliminate the Carbon Tax.
Traditionally the NDP has always been a supporter of environmental causes and the environmental groups have supported the NDP…. on this file though, Carole James and the NDP are clearly going for votes and going for what BC taxpayers are thinking is best for their wallets.
Personally, yes, I think the DSF is correct. Their numbers clearly show that the NDPs cap-and-trade program will not have the same effect in pricing carbon than the carbon tax does and so will not encourage businesses and consumers to reduce their carbon emissions as much as with a carbon tax.
Carbon Emissions and Fossil Fuel use is an economic and social addiction: No different from cigarettes. One of the key ways to stop it is to tax the hell out of it… it will work, we must accept that it needs to happen and move on.
All *I* can do is hold my nose and vote NDP. Not because all of their policies are perfect, but because, as a whole, they are far less destructive environmentally, socially, and economically, than the BC Liberals.
The BC NDP under Carole James has become a disaster.
James has made so many bad decisions, not least her opposition, for opposition’s sake, to the carbon tax and her failure to support BC-STV. Moreover, eliminating the carbon tax will hurt people in the very lowest income bracket. E.g., in this household, whose total monthly food budget is $57, those carbon tax cheques have put food on the table that otherwise wouldn’t have been there.
I’m not sure I can hold my nose on this one. I am looking for three things in this election: a carbon tax, civilian oversight of police, and improved access to affordable childcare. These should be NDP issues, but they fail on every one of them.
The liberals are terrible on social policy, but at least they have a carbon tax. The greens have good policing policies and good climate change policies, but lack a comprehensive vision on health care, education and pretty much everything else (they don’t even seem clear on what’s federal jurisdiction).
I hope the NDP change their tune during the campaign.
A yes vote on STV would make for better choices next time.
You are both right of course. However, I think allowing the BC Liberals and more importantly Gordon Campbells autocratic, corporate-first, privatization-forever, style to remain would be far more detrimental to BC in the short and long term than Carole James and the NDP could ever do.
Yes, repealing the Carbon Tax is exactly not what needs to happen, but I think it is a case of politicians in general simply not being ready and pandering instead to voters gut reaction. It will become abundantly clear to Carole James and the NDP that in the end, the Carbon Tax will have to happen sooner or later.
Also, in terms of the environment, you must take into account all the other policies that Gordo has encouraged. Including the bonanza of oil and gas exploration and development in North Eastern BC and huge mining growth across the Province. I would be extremely surprised if the former Carbon Tax is far outweighed in CO2 reductions by the increases from these O&G projects.
And that doesn’t even include the constant pursuit, even over the objections of the Conversative in Ottawa, to have the Offshore Fields developed off the BC Coast.