B.C. parties lean into ideology as Greens release tax-heavy election platform

British Columbia’s three major parties leaned into their ideological divides Tuesday, with the Green Party the first to release a full platform ahead of this month’s provincial election.

Green Leader Sonia Furstenau announced the platform in Victoria with a heavy focus on taxing the wealthy in order to support the “well-being” of B.C. residents, ranging from mental health to environment and government accountability.

The 72-page platform includes proposals to double existing property tax rates for homes valued at over $3 million and an 18 per cent proposed tax on corporate profits over $1 billion.

The taxes would “help address housing challenges and fund infrastructure investments,” as well as support “climate action and renewable energy investments,” respectively, the Greens say.

“I want to be clear: An economy is meant to serve people,” Furstenau said. “It’s meant to serve our society.

“When our economy is producing the kinds of outcomes we’re seeing: A growing gap between rich and poor, a growing number of people who don’t have enough to just get by, and a growing number of people who have so much wealth that they’re not even sure what to do with it, … we need governments to step in and play the role that they’re meant to play.”

A key part of the Green platform is the establishment of “well-being frameworks” that measure how B.C. is performing in terms of natural environment, support for residents and accountability for government institutions.

“We need to ensure that governments aren’t measuring only GDP, aren’t measuring only how much money they’re spending, but measure how that money is actually accomplishing the outcomes that government should be striving for,” Furstenau said.

The platform also includes a number of investments: $650 million annually in municipal infrastructure to support new housing, $250 million to expand child care, $100 million every year for wildfire prevention and management, and $20 million in annual training in the renewable energy sector.

On the energy front, the B.C. Conservatives announced on Tuesday a plan to make the province self sufficient for electricity, by building any “energy infrastructure needed to meet” the province’s demand — which may include nuclear power.

“We want to make sure that we have a lot of conversation about nuclear power in this province,” said Conservative Leader John Rustad on a feasibility study on nuclear power promised by his party.

“Can this be done affordably? Can it be done reliably? Can it be done safely? We need to make sure we answer all these questions,” Rustad told reporters in Brackendale, B.C.

He also criticized provincial policies by the New Democrat government to put more zero-emission vehicles on the road and push for heat pumps to replace fossil fuel furnaces, calling them “pie-in-the-sky” initiatives that are “pushing B.C.’s energy system to the brink.”

“We do not have the electrical generation to be able to do this,” he said, promising a Conservative government would reverse course on those mandates if elected.

“We need to make sure that we have the energy that we need, and that we have policies in place that are going to build out that energy to meet our growing demands.”

Rustad also said his party will support alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal, but only when the projects “make practical, economic sense.”

Vancouver-based think-tank Clean Energy Canada executive director Mark Zacharias said in response to the plan that while Rustad “correctly recognizes that we will need new energy infrastructure to meet future demand” using technologies that may include nuclear in the long-term, other parts of the plan are based on “false assumptions.”

Among those are the need for B.C. to be able to fully generate its power demands during peak usage, which means a large part of the system would sit idle “at great cost only to be used every couple of years.”

Zacharias also said electric vehicle sales and heat pumps are unlikely to push B.C.’s power grid to the breaking point, since EVs are estimated by BC Hydro to increase electricity demand in the province by 2 per cent in 2030, while heat pumps use less power than traditional baseboard heating.

“An analysis from Clean Energy Canada found that solar and wind with battery storage are set to produce cheaper electricity than natural gas in Alberta and Ontario, and this trend is expected to be similar for B.C.,” he said.

NDP Leader David Eby was in Castlegar on Tuesday, pledging a re-elected New Democrat government would extend travel assistance to cover the mileage costs with upfront payment and extend employment protections for people with serious illnesses from eight days to 27 weeks.

But the party also took a swipe at Rustad, posting on social media a video from March 2023 of Rustad calling the current narrative on climate an “anti-human agenda.”

The video shows a portion of the podcast hosted by former People’s Party of Canada candidate Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson, where Rustad said reducing nitrogen in fertilizer would create a significant global food shortage.

The post came days after Eby sent a letter to Rustad over the weekend, urging the Conservatives to remove several candidates in the election for what he described as public endorsement of “anti-democratic conspiracy theories” relating to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

All three major party leaders are expected to come face-to-face in events in Vancouver on Wednesday, with a live debate on radio station CKNW, followed by an event hosted by the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade.

“Here’s what I expect in the debate: I expect that John Rustad’s handlers will have beaten him into submission about not talking about his crazy internet conspiracy theories,” Eby said during his appearance in Castlegar.

“He only talks about these things when he’s in a trusted environment with his pals like Jordan Peterson,” Eby added, referring to the Canadian psychologist’s podcast where Rustad both broached nuclear power as an option for B.C. and criticized educational materials designed for “indoctrination” of children.

Rustad, in response to the video release, said that his concern is about food security if the use of nitrogen-based fertilizer is reduced.

“Forty-per-cent of the world’s food supply comes from using nitrogen-based fertilizer,” Rustad said. “And I’m sorry I’m not interested in policies that are going to restrict our food supply and cause grief and potential food shortages for people in this province.”

When asked about the back-and-forth between Eby and Rustad, Furstenau said she wanted her party to “lead by example” in getting away from the polarizing politics plaguing other countries and rising in B.C.

She said the Green platform is aimed at presenting a “vision” to take B.C. forward, and urged everyone to “all start voting for what we want” instead of compromising their expectations for an elected government.

“I’m so tired of our expectations being diminished with every election that goes by,” Furstenau said. “I want our expectations to go up. We are releasing a platform that says to British Columbia, raise your expectations. Expect better.”

— With files from Darryl Greer in Castlegar

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024.

Chuck Chiang and Nono Shen, The Canadian Press