John Horgan, a candidate to lead the BC New Democrats, is the first candidate for premier of BC to announce that he would expand the province’s best-in-the-world carbon tax shift. That’s good news.
It’s also a relief to hear a New Democrat leadership candidate recant his prior opposition to the tax shift. In 2009, Dorgan followed the party’s cynical campaign strategy of carbon-tax demagoguery.
It’s nice to see a mea culpa.
Crankin
Just a correction on the name – “John Horgan” – agree that is about time for the mea culpa…
Eric Hess
Thanks Crankin, we’ve updated the post.
John Newcomb
John Horgan (not Dorgan) – and the BC New Democrats in general – may be “out of synch” with the BC electorate on this carbon tax versus cap and trade versus “reduce all taxes” mood. Since the last election, a huge bro-ha-ha has blown up over the introduction of a harmonization sales tax (HST), and getting any traction to increase, broaden, or even keep the BC carbon tax may now be rather unlikely. The Liberal party leadership candidates are backing away from maintaining the current carbon tax. For example, according to a Conservation Voters of BC website, Liberal George Abbott said he supports a provincewide referendum on the future of the controversial carbon tax…and if he is elected party leader next month he will add a question to the June referendum on the harmonized sales tax asking British Columbians whether they support putting the carbon tax on hold for three years.In a related issue, such groups as tghe Conservation Voters of BC are being “outed” as getting big funding from secretive, wealthy and powerful United States’ foundations. Really not much different from Sightline Institute’s combination of grants, foundation support and contributions, but easy to imagine Canadian angst about Yankee influence in our electoral process. Pretty sure that both the Liberals and NDP will have to publicly scorn such US foundation funding to be politically-correct in BC.