Smithers Mayor Taylor Bachrach is among a group of municipal leaders calling on the B.C. government to increase the carbon tax up to $15 per tonne annually.
Bachrach and other members of the B.C. Mayors Climate Leadership Council have outlined their priorities for climate change in a submission to the consultation phase of the Province's Climate Leadership Plan.
Their recommendations were in addition to those put forward by the B.C. Climate Leadership Team, which the Council endorsed last December.
Funding for public transit in urban and rural areas, new policies to encourage construction of green buildings, and financial support for renewable energy projects were among their requests.
Bachrach said B.C. could not afford to delay the shift to a low-carbon economy.
“Rather than focusing on investments that prolong our economic dependence on fossil fuel exports, we urge the B.C. government to enact policies that encourage investments in renewable energy,” he said.
“The Climate Leadership Team’s recommendations are a step in this direction.”
The B.C. Mayors Climate Leadership Council includes mayors and councillors from Burns Lake, Castlegar, the City of North Vancouver, Dawson Creek, the District of North Vancouver, North Cowichan and Vancouver.
Read the full story in the April 13 edition of The Interior News.