If you filled up at the Shell station on Sumas Way in Abbotsford last week, you paid $1.38 per litre of regular gasoline. The Husky station on Quadra Street in Victoria was charging $1.44, the same price as in 100 Mile House, and a penny a litre more than in Cranbrook.

In Langley, Surrey and other locations within the Metro Vancouver transit tax area, prices were as high as $1.47. That香蕉视频直播檚 drifting towards the all-time North American record set in Metro Vancouver this past April, where $1.62 per litre beat the record set in Los Angeles in 2008.

April 1 was the date of the latest increase in B.C.香蕉视频直播檚 carbon tax on fuels, already the highest in Canada. It now sits at $35 per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions. That香蕉视频直播檚 about 8.5 cents per litre of gasoline or 10 cents for diesel, once you add the GST that is charged on top of it in the Canadian tradition. To fill up a full-sized pickup truck, it香蕉视频直播檚 an extra $10 or so for carbon tax.

When then-premier Gordon Campbell introduced the B.C. carbon tax in 2008, I argued in favour of it. It promotes more efficient vehicles, higher-density communities with more walking and cycling that our couch-potato culture desperately needs, and most significantly, it was 香蕉视频直播渞evenue neutral.香蕉视频直播�

What that meant was that personal and business income taxes were reduced to return carbon tax revenue, along with low-income and rural rebates. Campbell香蕉视频直播檚 government even mailed everyone a nice cheque to help the medicine go down.

A few hard lessons have been learned since those early days of 香蕉视频直播渇ighting climate change香蕉视频直播� through taxation. The first is that it hasn香蕉视频直播檛 worked.

B.C.香蕉视频直播檚 greenhouse gas emissions went down for a couple of years due to a destructive global recession that among other things, forced Canadian and U.S. governments to briefly nationalize auto companies. Emissions have been rising since, and will continue unless the B.C. economy hits another wall.

Revenue neutrality has also gone the way of the Edsel. Premier John Horgan scrapped that, claiming to divert revenues towards vaguely defined efficiency projects. One is new transit lines in Surrey and Vancouver, announced by the previous federal government in 2015 and re-announced last week by Horgan and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Another sham: in May, the B.C. government announced $1.5 million to help my alma mater Langara College 香蕉视频直播渞educe its carbon footprint.香蕉视频直播� The money is to replace worn-out ventilation fans. That香蕉视频直播檚 right, old electric motors that run on carbon-free hydro power are replaced with new ones. If you believe that香蕉视频直播檚 香蕉视频直播渇ighting climate change,香蕉视频直播� I香蕉视频直播檝e got some toxic, overpriced fluorescent light bulbs you might like.

B.C.香蕉视频直播檚 carbon tax is now just another sales tax, on top of the PST. Same goes for Alberta, where Premier Rachel Notley angrily announced that she香蕉视频直播檚 pulling out of Trudeau香蕉视频直播檚 national carbon tax over the Trans Mountain pipeline mess.

Trudeau香蕉视频直播檚 edict would bring the rest of the country up to B.C.香蕉视频直播檚 tax level and beyond, to $50 a tonne. But it will be 香蕉视频直播渞evenue neutral香蕉视频直播� to Ottawa, meaning the money will go back to provinces even if Ottawa collects it for them.

香蕉视频直播淪ee you in court,香蕉视频直播� said Saskatchewan, since joined by Doug Ford香蕉视频直播檚 Ontario, and likely other provinces.

The notion that British Columbia, and for that matter Canada, can alter planetary weather with deceptive tax measures, while the U.S., China, India, Australia and others bow out, is not just sick. It香蕉视频直播檚 dying.

Tom Fletcher is B.C. legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Email: tfletcher@blackpress.ca

tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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