British Columbians are facing a future without a consumer carbon tax for the first time in 17 years, after the early-morning approval of a bill to end the long-standing policy.
The NDP government fast-tracked legislation in an effort to kill off the tax on Monday, in time to coincide with today’s demise of the federal version of the tax, but it was around 1:30 a.m. before it finally passed its third reading in the legislature.
Premier David Eby had said Monday he expected gas prices to fall by about 17 cents a litre today as the impact of the tax’s repeal kicked in, but many gas stations were showing smaller drops around 9 a.m.
The lowest price in Metro Vancouver, according to the GasBuddy website at 4 p.m. on Monday, was about $1.81, while at 9 a.m. today it was about $1.78.
Eby says the province’s utilities commission has the authority to uncover price gouging and British Columbians expect the price difference to show up at the pumps.
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The BC Utilities Commission says it will monitor the market to determine whether gas companies are passing on savings from the removal of the tax to customers.
The final vote to end the tax came about 15 hours after Finance Minister Brenda Bailey proposed the bill to the legislature.
It marks the end of a tax that has been in place since 2008, when B.C. became the first jurisdiction in North America to introduce a broad-based carbon levy.
Eby said Monday that it played an important role for many years, but it became a “toxic” issue as a result of campaigns by the B.C. and federal Conservative parties.
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