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The plan does not increase the carbon tax — which has been frozen at $30 per tonne since 2012 — or commit to a schedule of increases. The B.C. government is not ruling out considering an increase, but not until other provinces catch up and they see a carbon-pricing plan from Ottawa under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The province’s advisory committee — comprised of government, academic, business, environmental, First Nation and community representatives — had recommended an aggressive $10-per-tonne increase in the carbon tax starting in 2018. That would have doubled the carbon tax by 2020 and put it at $130 per tonne by 2030, far outstripping any jurisdiction in North America. The advisory committee recommended offsetting effects on business by reducing by one per cent the provincial sales tax to six per cent, and reducing some other small business taxes.

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It’s already known the province will not meet an interim target of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by one-third by 2020. As of 2014, emission were 62.7 million tonnes, according to the province. However, carbon emissions would have to come down to 44 million tonnes by 2020 to meet the legislated target. The B.C. Liberals, however, are not setting a new interim target as recommended by its advisory committee. They will have to remove from law the 2020 legislated reduction target. The advisory committee had recommended a 40 per cent reduction target by 2030.