From carbon tax to involuntary care: B.C. NDP shifts positions
CBC
His rivals are calling him Flip-Flop Eby.
B.C. Premier David Eby's opponents are slamming him for capitulating on issues where he once stood firm, including harm reduction, mental health treatment and now a key pillar of the province's climate change fight — the carbon tax.
Eby has spent the last 22 months defending the carbon tax, saying on Nov. 29, 2023: "Let me be clear. We will not back down. God forbid, if the rest of the country abandons the fight against climate change, B.C. will stand strong."
In March, when federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wrote a letter to Eby asking him to help stop the planned federal carbon price hikes, Eby dismissed it as a "baloney factory" political tactic.
But the levy has become increasingly unpopular with British Columbians struggling to afford gas, groceries and other costs. According to an Angus Reid poll in March, 75 per cent of Canadians supported removing the carbon tax entirely.
Eby was the lone Canadian premier standing behind it.
That changed this week.
During a campaign-style rally in Vancouver with Manitoba NDP Premier Wab Kinew that was supposed to be about women's reproductive rights, Eby made the unexpected announcement on the carbon tax.
"I think it's critical to also recognize that the context and the challenge for British Columbians has changed. A lot of British Columbians are struggling with affordability," Eby told the crowd.
"If the federal government decides to remove the legal backstop requiring us to have a consumer carbon tax in British Columbia, we will end the consumer carbon tax in British Columbia."
Eby blamed the federal government's meddling with the carbon tax — which last year exempted the tax on home heating oil in the Atlantic provinces — for the erosion in public support for it.
"The political consensus we had in British Columbia has been badly damaged by the approach of the federal government to this issue," Eby said.
What he didn't say is that Poilievre has been relentless in his calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to "Axe the Tax," a slogan adopted by Rustad's B.C. Conservatives.
Rustad claimed victory, saying it's evident Eby's positions — on the carbon tax and on the approach to the mental health and addictions crisis — are changing because of the pressure he and his candidates are putting on the government.
Local politicians and waterfront users say the province's sewage plan for the redevelopment of Ontario Place could make a popular part of the waterfront a health risk for beachgoers, rowers and swimmers.
The P.E.I. government has halted plans to purchase more electric school buses due to the financial uncertainty surrounding Lion Electric, the company that manufactures most of the vehicles for the province.
A city councillor is suggesting the City of Calgary do an external review of how its operations and council decisions are being impacted by false information spread online and through other channels. Coun. Courtney Walcott said he plans to bring forward a motion to council, calling for its support for a review. He said he's not looking for real time fact checking but rather, a review that looks back at the role misinformation played on key issues. Walcott cited two instances in 2024 where factually incorrect information was circulated both online and at in-person meetings regarding major city projects: council's decision to upzone much of the city, and the failed redevelopment proposal for Glenmore Landing. "Looking back on previous years, looking back on major events and finding out how pervasive misinformation and bad information is out there and it's influence on all levels of the public discourse is really important," said Walcott.
Quebec's public security minister said Tuesday the province was sending more officers to the U.S. to help fight organized crime near the border.
Ontario officials estimate that U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on Canadian goods could cost up to half a million jobs, Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday, as he called for stronger and more visible action from the federal government.
A 37-year-old man from York, P.E.I., who was reported missing in New Brunswick yesterday has been found dead, the New Brunswick RCMP said in a news release.
The number of Londoners seeking community housing is on the rise, according to the city's latest homelessness data.
The union representing mechanics and labourers at Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. says 99 per cent of its members have voted in favour of strike action.
Last spring, Caio De Naday Hornhardt believed his former landlord had done him wrong, with a same-day eviction.
Blair Davis says he was in the paddock of his West Lawrencetown, N.S., farm several years ago when he first heard a buzzing noise and looked up to see a drone hovering overhead.
It's January and that means residents of Miramichi are experiencing a now-annual round of anxious speculation: will the Centennial Bridge close completely this year?
Police say a man who was shot in a parking lot in Lévis on Saturday night was likely not the intended target.
A judge has dismissed comments a Manitoba woman made during her arrest about consuming alcohol before hitting her boyfriend with a school bus because her Charter rights were breached.
Two Saskatchewan families say they felt more like hostages than guests of a resort in Mexico when they got severely ill and were pressured by staff to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) in exchange for medical help.
Edmonton utilities company Epcor has dropped part of a fee charged to customers who opt out of the installation of new water meter reading devices.
Many, including B.C.'s premier, have called for a Team Canada approach to Donald Trump's tariff threat. But it seems some provinces are going it alone.
Homelessness in northern Ontario has grown four times faster than in non-northern communities in the last eight years, and new research suggests the region's rates could more than quadruple over the next decade.