Don’t be surprised by the B.C. NDP consumer carbon tax step back [Video]

In 2008, as the-then B.C. Liberal government was poised to bring in Canada’s first carbon tax, the B.C. NDP staunchly opposed it, saying a climate plan should not tax consumers but target major industrial producers such as the gas, oil, cement and aluminum industries.

It even used a slogan now popular among Conservative politicians in Canada: “Axe the Tax.”

The lookback provides context to B.C. Premier David Eby’s decision to end nearly two years of publicly supporting the carbon tax in the province, with experts saying embracing the tax scheme doesn’t trump political risk.

On Thursday, Eby announced his government would pull its consumer carbon tax, which has been in place for 16 years, and shift the burden of limiting climate change to “big polluters” if Ottawa ended legal obligations for the tax nationwide.

• The B.C. NDP’s 08 campaign to ‘axe’ province’s novel carbon tax

Eby’s argument is the same …