British Columbians got some relief at the gas pumps on Tuesday as prices tumbled overnight after the consumer carbon tax was eliminated in a marathon legislative session. Read More
The B.C. carbon tax had added 17¢ a litre to the price of gasoline. Read more.
The B.C. carbon tax had added 17¢ a litre to the price of gasoline. Read more.
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British Columbians got some relief at the gas pumps on Tuesday as prices tumbled overnight after the consumer carbon tax was eliminated in a marathon legislative session.
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Several Vancouver gas stations had the price for regular gasoline at $1.72 per litre on Tuesday morning, down about 20 cents from Monday, when prices were nearing $2.
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By midday, GasBuddy.com showed most gas stations in the city had regular gasoline at between $1.71 and $1.78 a litre. The cheapest gas in Metro was in Aldergrove, at $1.66.
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Josh Edwards had been biding his time, waiting for the end of the carbon tax before filling up his Volvo sedan at the Chevron station on Main Street and East 12th Avenue.
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He welcomed the end of the unpopular tax, even though he was skeptical whether the savings would last long.
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“It’s good if they actually gave the savings back to the people,” he said. “I hope so.”
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He’s noticed the steady rise of gas prices over the last week, jumping to about $1.96 on Monday and taking a bite of the savings that kicked in because of the repeal of the tax.
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“Early last week, we were pretty close in price, and I saw it jump up until yesterday.”
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He doesn’t know what accounted for those increases, but said, “it’s a little strange, if you ask me.”
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Several drivers at the gas station also commented on the run-up in price.
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“I guess they have to make a few bucks,” said Rob Knight, who likes to fill up in Vancouver rather than Bowen Island, where he lives part-time, because gas there is more expensive.
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He didn’t mind the carbon tax, even though he might not have got the same amount back in carbon tax rebates issued by the B.C. government.
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“I don’t think people understood it,” he said of the tax, which the Conservative parties in B.C. and Ottawa pledged to axe long before the B.C. NDP and federal Liberals acted to remove it. “It’s getting cancelled for political reasons.”
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The NDP government fast-tracked its legislation to kill the tax on Monday, in time to coincide with today’s demise of the federal version of the tax. The B.C. law, introduced Monday morning, got final approval at about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.
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The tax had been in place since 2008, when B.C. became the first jurisdiction in North America to introduce a broad-based carbon levy.
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Premier David Eby said Monday that the tax played an important role for many years, but it became “toxic” as a result of campaigns by the B.C. and federal Conservative parties.
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He told reporters he expected British Columbians to save 17 cents a litre starting Tuesday, and warned oil and gas companies that the tax repeal should be reflected in the prices at the pump.
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