TERRACE, BRITISH COLUMBIA — A letter from Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to British Columbia Premier David Eby, asking him to help halt a federal carbon tax increase, has been dismissed by Eby as a “baloney factory” campaign tactic.

Poilievre’s letter sent Friday asks Eby to join seven other premiers in opposing the April 1 tax increase, saying the 23 per cent hike amounts to an extra 18 cents on a litre of fuel, and people in B.C. and Canadians can’t afford it.

Poilievre’s letter says the carbon tax system set up by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is an imposition on the provinces that requires them to accept an ever-increasing tax.

Eby, speaking at an unrelated news conference in Terrace, says B.C. would end up with less money returned to the province if it accepted Poilievre’s “campaign office and baloney factory” request.

B.C. introduced North America’s first broad-based carbon tax in 2008, and will administer the coming tax increase on behalf of the federal government.

The premiers of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador have asked the federal government to drop the April 1 increase.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 15, 2024.

The Canadian Press