British Columbians increasingly opposed to carbon tax, poll shows

More than twice as many British Columbians are opposed to the province’s carbon tax than support it, a new poll suggests.

According to the survey, commissioned by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), 49 per cent of people in BC are against the levy.

Only 24 per cent of participants in the poll said they backed the tax.

A fifth – 20 per cent – of respondents said they neither support nor oppose the policy, while six per cent said they are unsure.

In the Interior/North region, 58 per cent of participants said they oppose the tax, the highest proportion in the province.

Other groups strongly opposed to the levy include over-55s (59 per cent), people earning $150,000 a year or more (56 per cent) and BC Conservative voters (72 per cent).

“The polling numbers are crystal clear, British Columbians want carbon and gas tax relief,” Carson Binda, BC director of the CTF, claimed.

“This poll should be a wake-up call for Premier David Eby because his constituents need tax relief now.”

Support for the carbon tax in BC has declined by 28 percentage points in the last six months, according to the survey.

It comes amid a bruising few weeks for the policy, which is hailed by its defenders as an essential way to bring down carbon emissions.

Last month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a federal carbon tax carve-out for home heating oil, ruffling feathers across the country – including in BC – in the process, though Premier David Eby retains faith in the province's own levy.

Federal Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre has stepped up his attacks on the tax ever since, urging the Liberal government to abolish it entirely as a way of easing inflation.

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said removing the tax would cause a 0.6 percentage-point decline in the current rate of inflation, but Trudeau said he will “absolutely not” be making any more adjustments to the levy.

The national debate prompted BC United Leader Kevin Falcon to pledge to reduce the provincial carbon tax immediately if he won power.

He also said he would abolish the tax entirely if Poilievre won the federal election, a promise he repeated in an interview with NowMedia on Wednesday.

To see the full data from the survey, head here.