01-04-2025
B.C.'s finance minister makes it up on the fly on carbon tax ... and gets it wrong
VICTORIA — Finance Minister Brenda Bailey was deep into debate on phasing out the carbon tax Monday night when she took a stab at rationalizing the NDP's reasons for waiting to act until the 11th hour.
'Some questions have been raised about this being a panic,' she began. 'Why on this day, March 31, are we bringing forward this bill?
'Well, the reality is the premier made a commitment that should the federal government step back on the carbon legislation, we too would follow suit.'
When Prime Minister Mark Carney signed off on the federal version of the tax on March 15, the B.C. legislature was on a two-week break.
'That's something that the legislature decides upon. It's not a government decision,' claimed Bailey. 'Our first day back is today. This is why we're bringing it forward now, to keep our commitment that as soon as we could act, we would act.'
Wrong and wrong again.
Carney signalled his intention to get rid of the carbon tax on Jan. 31. The other serious contender for the Liberal party leadership, Chrystia Freeland, was of a similar mind.
The New Democrats could have introduced legislation giving cabinet the power to repeal the B.C. counterpart of the tax when the provincial house sat on Feb. 18. There was a second opportunity with the budget and its enabling legislation on March 4.
Bailey is in her second term as an MLA, long enough to know that legislature sittings, like the legislature agenda, are entirely at the call of the government.
The New Democrats could have postponed spring break and recalled the house on March 17, allowing two weeks instead of one day to debate Bill 8, the Carbon Tax Amendment Act.
The last minute 'panic' was entirely of the NDP's own making. Bailey undermined her credibility by trying to suggest otherwise. But it set the tone for her entire defence of the legislation, evasive and grudging as it was.
In seeking authorization from the Speaker to put the bill through all three stages of debate in one day, government house leader Mike Farnworth made a pledge in return.
The government would extend the time for debate into the night of March 31, 'thereby ensuring that all members who wish to debate this bill at all stages are provided ample opportunity to do so.'
You wouldn't know it from Bailey's fielding of questions from Opposition finance critic Peter Milobar. She treated the clause-by-clause phase of debate as a nuisance and became more and more intransigent as the evening wore on.
The phaseout of the carbon tax would create a $2 billion hole on the revenue side of the provincial budget. Would that entail cuts? Other offsets? Or a boost in the deficit?
Bailey claimed not to have a clue what would happen.
'There is work underway,' she told Milobar. 'We are reviewing all programs that are linked to this.
'It's complex and important work, and it will take time, and it's going to be done carefully,' she lectured the Opposition. 'I think it's unrealistic to make a request that I have information on all of those decisions yet.
The government will report back with the details of any changes along with the next scheduled update on the budget in September. Meaning a full year after Premier David Eby first promised to phase out the carbon tax.
Talk about making it up as they go along. Listening to Bailey's non-answers you'd think that carbon tax repeal had just been sprung on the government, not something they'd promised months ago.
Milobar challenged the finance minister on the matter of urgency, citing precedents where the government had amended the carbon tax at a leisurely pace and retroactively.
Bailey tried to suggest the matter was closed by the Speaker's acceptance of the government request for expedited passage in one day.
'This question has been already decided upon by our Speaker,' she said, trying to short circuit the debate. 'That ruling stands. It has been litigated. It's accepted.'
It is hardly news that the Speaker sided with the government on a procedural matter. It would be a rare day if he'd done otherwise.
That shouldn't close off explanations about why the government rushed the bill.
As the hours passed, Bailey fell back more and more on saying the question was 'asked and answered.' Or she ignored it altogether.
She took to hectoring Milobar directly, at one point complaining 'you have asked a number of questions that I've indulged you in.' Later, she accused him of trying to trap her — 'playing a game of 'got you'' — with persistent questions about when the New Democrats actually began drafting the bill.
When the Opposition finally gave up and let the bill pass, it was 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday April 1.
Clause-by-clause debate, the most critical part of legislative scrutiny, had extended over four hours, much of it taken up with Milobar's probing and Bailey's refusal to say much of anything.
But presumably that's what the premier wanted — a finance minister who steers critical tax legislation through the house while explaining as little as possible.
vpalmer@
No excuse for last-minute rush to kill carbon tax in B.C.
B.C. Premier David Eby backs away from power grab, but hints at new attempt in fall
