Gas tax hits rural residents the hardest

Local governments, businesses and individual citizens from across the Province have all raised concerns with Campbell’s gas tax, but nowhere has the outcry been louder than in rural areas.And no other area will be so heavily affected.

The BC Liberals will tell you that we all have to pay our fair share. We all have to take on the burden of cutting emissions.I think that most people in rural areas would agree; each of us needs to work to find a solution to climate change.

But what the BC Liberals won’t tell you is that in setting up this tax they made sure that most of the biggest polluters in the province will be excluded from the tax.By the government’s own calculations, the gas tax will achieve only 7% of the reductions needed to achieve their own targets, yet the government presses on with this unfair tax.

Rural residents will pay the most as we have very few other options to reduce our need for fuel.We have little choice.We drive farther for basic services and we drive larger vehicles to stay safe on our highways.

Our businesses will also suffer.For instance, forest workers can not choose to drive less or use smaller vehicles.And the government offers nothing to assist the industries that will be so strongly impacted.

The Campbell gas tax is not a tool that will reduce emissions, nor is it in any way fair.The gas tax is simply a cash grab that will hurt rural areas hardest.

To make a real difference on emissions we must have an emission reduction plan that is developed in consultation with British Columbians,that recognizes geographical, industrial and socio-economic challenges and covers all sources of pollution.

This so-called carbon tax does not qualify and so it is my opinion that it must be rejected. You can also share your opinion by sending an email to premier@gov.bc.ca and cc me at norm.macdonald.mla@leg.bc.ca.

Forestry policy a failure

The forest industry is in an unprecedented collapse and the Premier and Minister of Forests are doing absolutely nothing to stop the damage.The Opposition is fighting to protect forestry jobs and to support forest dependent communities.

Forestry has always been British Columbia’s most important industry.Forest Ministers of every stripe have known that their job was to keep forest workers employed and forest dependent communities economically healthy.The Campbell government has chosen not to do that.

The reality is that market conditions are difficult right now and that does make for challenges in the industry.It is times like these that the forest workers rely on the government to do the right thing.

Premier Campbell and the BC Liberals are the first government in fifty years to put the interests of forest workers and forest dependent communities at the bottom of their priority list.

The BC Liberals legislated changes that may benefit CEO’s of certain major companies but put the jobs of forestry workers at risk.

While the BC Liberals have been in charge there have been 46 mills closed and over 20 000 skilled forestry jobs lost.13 000 jobs have been lost in the last year alone with 3 000 jobs disappearing in the last two weeks.

The decision by the Campbell government to weaken provincial safety regulations led to more forest worker deaths and injuries.

The decision by the Campbell government to remove appurtenance has led to one community after community losing their biggest employer.

Government decisions have made for record levels of raw log exports, and more value added and remanufacturing businesses can not get access to logs even though they have strong markets for their product.

The decisions by the Campbell government to impose an unfair gas tax on rural areas will hurt the forestry industry in particular.

The impacts of all these decisions were completely predictable.The results have been devastating.The job losses in the industry are significant and permanent.BC Liberal forest policy is impoverishing rural British Columbia and is a further example of this government’s anti-rural agenda.