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When the B.C. Liberal government unveils its updated climate plan in the next week or two, the critical question of whether the province’s carbon tax will increase (and when) will not be answered.

In a recent interview, B.C. Environment Minister Mary Polak revealed that a provincial decision on carbon pricing is not likely until after the federal government has made its own decision on pricing, possibly late this year.

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A federal working group on carbon pricing is not scheduled to report back until October.

“We know that if we are going to get to the kind of emission reductions that we need — it’s not just us, it’s anywhere in Canada, anywhere in the world — carbon pricing and increasing carbon pricing has to be involved. You can’t get there without it. The question for us is: when and how much?” said Polak.

“But if you are talking about a tax measure, ministers of finance, ours included, really struggle with the idea of tinkering around with it at a time when you don’t know what the federal (strategy) is going to look like.”