My kids are still little, but I feel the weight of their future – and all of our futures – every single day. Preserving and protecting the pristine natural environment of Beautiful British Columbia is something that unites us all.

Our province has often been on the forefront of climate action in Canada. We see the value of our natural environment every day. And we also see the consequences of inaction: record wildfires, droughts, floods and heat domes.

Climate action was once a point of consensus in our province. Parties would compete over who had the best climate offer. The argument wasn’t over whether climate change was real or what was the cause, but rather, over how we would tackle it. That’s why we’ve made sure BC has the strongest climate plan in Canada.

We’ve brought in continent-leading regulations to slash methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, and we are powering up more of our industries with clean electricity instead of fossil fuels. Our population and economy are growing, but our emissions are falling.

And we’re helping people make their own transitions to reduce their carbon footprint and make cleaner choices.

But emission reductions are only a part of the story.

Climate change is a challenge - and tackling it is a unique opportunity BC already benefits from. Every day, more and more global investment is flowing into the sectors of our economy that are driving a transition away from carbon pollution.

Here in B.C., we can be part of this transition and reap the rewards.

We can generate more clean electricity like wind and solar. We are mastering the production of hydrogen fuel and clean technology, and we can sell it in markets around the globe. We can export critical minerals, mined right here in B.C. to be turned into batteries and solar panels, driving forward green electrification worldwide.

In fact, we have sixteen mine proposals on the table right now that are all about the critical minerals – which are in high demand worldwide, giving us a huge advantage in the global movement to a clean economy. That’s the B.C. advantage.

Or we can refuse to act and let others seize the opportunity instead.

John Rustad is a climate denier. He has called climate science “a lie” and thinks global investors seeking low-carbon resources and creating jobs in BC have fallen for that lie.

This denial of science puts our environment at risk. It puts our prosperity at risk. And it puts our communities at risk as they face increasing numbers of wildfires, floods and droughts.

It is critical to our economic future that British Columbia’s commitment to climate action be preserved - and built upon.

In this election, B.C.’s economic future is directly at risk.

In June 2008, our province was the first jurisdiction in North America to implement a carbon tax. John Rustad voted for it. He voted for it eight times since then.

But 2024 is not 2008. Across Canada, people are feeling stretched by rising costs. And as Ottawa unilaterally changed its own approach to the carbon tax, treating regions differently, giving special exemptions, and tripling annual increases, people across the country also began to feel that the tax itself was unfair.
In this province, everyone is feeling the same pressures. People here are hurting, dealing with global inflation and high interest rates. They are being squeezed.

Keeping the consumer carbon tax in place despite the realities faced by British Columbians told people that their concerns didn’t matter. It was eroding trust, and destroying consensus. Both the consensus that once existed around the carbon tax, and the consensus around the economic value of climate action.

Climate action is absolutely necessary - for our planet, and for our future. So we listened. And we’re taking action. If Ottawa removes its national requirement for a consumer carbon tax, we will remove our own - while ensuring that big polluters continue to pay their fair share.

We’re also going to double down on the other climate tools in our toolbox. Because while we’ve had a carbon tax since 2008, it wasn’t until our BC NDP government introduced CleanBC that you could truly say we were taking climate action seriously.

In this election, there is a stark choice before voters.

Will BC have a government committed to protecting the environment, helping people with costs, investing in clean economic growth, and building a prosperous and healthy future for everyone?

Or will it have a government that will rip up climate action and call global investors part of the carbon conspiracy, putting all of us at risk?

In the BC NDP, we know our province doesn’t have to choose between helping people get ahead today, and ensuring a livable and healthy tomorrow for our kids.

We will protect people and the planet alike.

We will grow the economy not in spite of climate action, but because of it.

We will build a province where everyone can get ahead, and where no one is left behind.

Our kids and families across the province right now are counting on us all to get this right.