B.C. carbon tax boosts prices at gas pump
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 1, 2009 | 2:57 PM ET
CBC News
Support for a B.C.-style carbon tax is rising across the country, a recent Environics poll suggests. (CBC)British Columbia got a little greener on Wednesday: The province celebrated the first anniversary of its carbon tax with a price bump at the gas pumps.
The tax, brought in by the government last year in a bid to curb public demand for fossil fuels, increased to 3.6 cents on a litre of gasoline from 2.4 cents.
The surcharge is changing public attitudes, said Nancy Olewiler from the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions.
"People are now thinking about their fuel consumption and ways to minimize it," she said Tuesday.
"What the initial version of the tax was supposed to do is raise awareness, and on that score I'd say we've definitely raised awareness."
Finance Minister Colin Hansen said the tax, unique to the province, has specific goals.
"The target that we've set for 2020 is a 30 per cent reduction in our CO2 emissions," Hansen said, "so we have established benchmarks between now and 2020 that we need to get to."
Hansen said the carbon tax could generate revenues worth $550 million this year, which will be handed back to British Columbians through cuts to income and business taxes.
A recent poll by Environics suggests almost half of B.C. residents support the tax, and it is also gaining favour across the country.
Support rising, poll suggests
When asked how they would feel about the introduction of a B.C.-style carbon tax in their own province, opinions remain divided in every province, Environics reported.
Nonetheless, the survey said, support has also increased since last July in every province, most noticeably in Alberta (up 17 points) and Saskatchewan (up 13 points).
Across the country, support approaches 50 per cent from the Atlantic provinces to Manitoba, and remains somewhat lower in Saskatchewan (41 per cent) and Alberta (44 per cent).
The survey was conducted by telephone from May 21 to 26 with a representative sample of 2,003 Canadians, including 250 in British Columbia.
A sample of this size drawn from the national population would be expected to provide results within plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 95 out of 100 times (plus or minus 6.2 percentage points for the B.C. sample), Environics said.
