Top Environmental Group Lambastes BC NDP Climate Change Platform

onApr 13, 2009 @ 10:12 PDT

The Pembina Institute calls the BC NDP’s election platform a “step backwards for climate change.”

Matt Horne, BC Energy Solutions Director for the Pembina Institute, made the following statement in response to the BC NDP’s release of its election platform:

“The NDP plans to cancel British Columbia’s carbon tax, but offers limited detail on how the party otherwise plans to meet British Columbia’s greenhouse gas reduction targets.

“The NDP’s platform puts climate change on the shelf to be addressed in the future, rather than building on steps already taken. The carbon tax is already showing results. It is important for British Columbia to keep moving forward on climate change rather than starting over again. [my emphasis]

“The carbon tax covers more than 75 per cent of British Columbia’s greenhouse gas pollution, including industry, while the core of the NDP plan would address only 30 per cent at best. British Columbia’s climate plan needs to be strengthened, but the NDP’s proposal takes us in the opposite direction.

“The NDP fails to acknowledge that British Columbia’s carbon tax applies to all fossil fuels burned in the province, regardless of who consumes them. This is an important fact for British Columbians to understand.”

The NDP platform includes a number of other commitments related to climate and energy, and the Pembina Institute will release a more detailed review of these next week.

This month we’re giving away FREE copies of Thomas Friedman’s bestselling book Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution and How It Can Renew America.

Go here to find out more details about DeSmogBlog’s monthly book give-away.

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.