After Canada’s new Prime Minister, Mark Carney, announced that the Liberal government is immediately ending the consumer carbon price and made the change official during Carney’s first cabinet meeting on Friday, the BC government says it is prepared to follow suit.

Carney says people who have been getting a rebate on the carbon price will get one final payment for the next quarter in April.
He signed an order-in-council to make the change official while cameras were in the cabinet room.

Agriculture Minister Kody Blois says he thinks “it’s a really good move” because the policy has become very divisive. He noted the Atlantic Liberal caucus had pushed for changes to the carbon price in the past, and secured a carveout for home heating fuel in 2023.

Carney pledged to end the consumer price during the Liberal leadership race and said he would bolster the industrial price paid by big polluters. The consumer carbon pricing policy has been deeply unpopular and had been the focus of Conservative attacks on the Liberals for more than two years.

British Columbia Premier David Eby says his government is now preparing legislation to remove the province’s consumer-based carbon tax.

A statement from the BC NDP says that people in BC are doing everything they can to fight climate change. But we don’t want people to have to choose between affordability and climate action. That’s why we made the commitment last year to get rid of the consumer carbon tax at the first opportunity if the federal government removes the national carbon tax requirement.

“With Prime Minister Mark Carney moving to eliminate the federal carbon tax on consumers, we are preparing legislation for this session to repeal the tax in BC.”

“As the federal government removes the requirement that BC have a carbon tax in place, we will act quickly so the people of British Columbia don’t feel the pinch when filling their cars or heating their homes.”

“As that work is underway, BC is also readying legislation to eliminate the scheduled increase to the carbon tax that would otherwise have occurred on April 1, 2025.”

“While we eliminate the consumer carbon tax, we will continue to ensure big industrial polluters pay their fair share by maintaining an effective price on carbon for large emitters. Our goal is to incentivize industry to adopt lower-carbon technologies while maintaining their competitiveness.”

The BC legislature doesn’t sit again until March 31 and Eby says he won’t recall the legislature over the spring break to remove the tax.