Carbon Tax

WHEREAS the Province of British Columbia has announced the imposition of a new BC Carbon Tax on fossil fuels, escalating to 7.2 cents per litre for all grades of gasoline and 8.2 cents per litre for all grades of diesel fuel, in addition natural gas, home heating oil, etc. to force consumers to make alternative choices to reduce their use of fossil fuels; AND WHEREAS the proposed carbon tax has been applied to all areas of British Columbia contrary to the 2007 UBCM resolution calling for consideration of the appropriateness of implementing environmental sustainability initiatives on a unilateral basis; AND WHEREAS the new BC carbon tax is extremely discriminatory to those British Columbians that live and work in the remote, cold climate, resource-based north, where fuel for basic transportation, employment and home heating is a necessity rather than a choice; AND WHEREAS the new BC carbon tax will create a domino effect of disproportionately higher taxes through disproportionately higher transportation and heating costs for schools, universities, colleges, municipalities and hospitals in the remote and colder northern regions of the province, as well as disproportionately higher costs affecting employment and competition for northern business and industry and in particular tourism: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the UBCM lobby the provincial government to level the playing field by eliminating or reducing the carbon tax in areas where residents cannot make choices about their fuel consumption due to distance, climate and resource-based livelihoods or by providing those residents and businesses with new income tax exemptions to compensate for the disproportionately higher carbon taxes paid in those regions.