Month: June 2018

BURNABY – Today’s surprise announcement by the TransLink Mayors that they have received the blessing of the NDP Government to hike the TransLink gas tax to 18.5 cents per litre is another sign of how the NDP’s promise of affordability was just a cynical campaign slogan.

This latest 1.5 cents/L gas tax increase, combined with their April 1^st 1.1 cents/L carbon tax increase, and their commitment to hike the carbon tax by 1.1 cents/L every year, solidifies the Lower Mainland’s position as the highest gas tax jurisdiction in North America. By April 1, 2019, the Lower Mainland gas tax will be at least 54 cents per litre:

• 18.5 cents/L to TransLink
• 10 cents/L to federal government
• 8.5 cents/L to provincial government
• 9 cents/L to provincial government in carbon tax (set to rise 1.1 cents/L every year)
• 8 cents/L in GST (will increase as gas prices increase)

“With drivers already stretched thin by near-record gasoline process, the NDP have made it even worse. We already had the highest gas taxes in North America, and now the NDP have made it worse,” said Jordan Bateman, ICBA’s Communications Director and the leader of the No TransLink Tax campaign that defeated the TransLink sales tax in 2015. “If this is how the NDP makes good on their promise to make Lower Mainland life more affordable, taxpayers say, ‘STOP! We can’t afford any more of the NDP’s affordability’.”

With the Canada Day long weekend approaching and gas supply stretched thin in the Lower Mainland, analysts predicted prices would skyrocket. Today, the ICBA launched a new campaign calling on the NDP government to work to increase the Lower Mainland’s gas supply and to cut gas taxes.

The campaign includes this cheeky video, making the case to lower B.C.’s Big Gas prices by cutting our Big Gas taxes and getting a Big Gas pipeline built to move Canada’s Big Gas supply.

“We never imagined the NDP and TransLink mayors would kick off the long weekend by hiking already out-of-control gas taxes,” said Chris Gardner, ICBA president. “This is a critical issue to construction contractors and businesses, who must move goods and services around the region. Higher gas prices drive up the cost of everything in B.C.”

The NDP’s tax hiking isn’t limited to the Lower Mainland. Earlier this year, the NDP increased the Capital Region’s gas tax by 3.1 cents/L to third-highest in North America, paying 45.3 cents/L in direct gasoline taxes. That includes:

• 5.5 cents/L to BC Transit
• 10 cents/L to federal government
• 14.5 cents/L to provincial government
• 7.8 cents/L to provincial government in carbon tax (set to rise 1.1 cents/L every year)
• 8 cents/L in GST

The rest of B.C. has a slightly lighter tax burden, paying 38.8 cents/L in direct gasoline taxes, but that still includes a 1.1 cent/L carbon tax hike approved by the NDP:

• 10 cents/L to federal government
• 14.5 cents/L to provincial government
• 7.8 cents/L to provincial government in carbon tax (set to rise 1.1 cents/L every year)
• 7.5 cents/L in GST

View ICBA’s Big Gas tax video HERE.

Our new social media campaign, “Get Canada’s Big Gas Moving” has been going crazy. With more than 42,000 video views in 18 hours, it has started to pop up in the mainstream media.

Global BC interviewed our comms director, Jordan Bateman, and played part of the Big Gas commercial on The News Hour last night:

Jordan was also on the front page of The Province and quoted in this story:

We were also quoted in the StarMetro and apparently the Big Gas ad made it onto CBC Radio (we’ll post the clip when it’s available).

Here’s what Breakfast Television Vancouver said:

BURNABY – The Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA) filed a 49-page petition in B.C. Supreme Court late yesterday seeking an injunction to halt the NDP Government’s rushed, rigged proportional representation referendum.

The petition lays out arguments that the prop rep referendum process is flawed legally and violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including:

• It is not consistent with the NDP Government’s own Referendum Act, which calls for “a clear statement of the majority of voters on whether to implement a well-defined and comprehensible new voting system, or to keep the existing electoral system”;
• It violates foundational constitutional principles, which require a binding referendum on matters of fundamental importance, “endorsed by a clear majority on a clear question”;
• It does not meet sections 2(b) and 3 of the Charter, “which give British Columbians the right to meaningfully participate in a fair and comprehensible referendum process”;
• It does not meet sections 2(b) and 2(d) of the Charter, which require that “British Columbians be able to fully express themselves and debate fundamental changes to the design of the democratic system”;
• The regulations unlawfully restrict freedom of expression, freedom of debate on matters of public interest, and freedom of association; and
• The Rural-Urban prop rep option, which is not in existence anywhere in the world, violates sections 3 and 15 of the Charter as it creates two different electoral systems that would operate simultaneously.

“Whether people support proportional representation or not, the process set out by the Horgan Government was rushed, the questions are confusing and the rules restrict voters from getting the information they need to make an informed decision,” said Chris Gardner, ICBA president. “On fundamental democratic issues like this, British Columbians have a constitutional right to a clear question, open debate, and as much information as possible.”

ICBA wants the court to quash the referendum’s regulations, declare that the process has been unconstitutional, and issue an injunction staying the vote until the legal deficiencies have been remedied and the constitutional challenge can be adjudicated.

ICBA, which has been joined in the action by the Canada West Construction Union and Kenneth Baerg, is represented by Peter A. Gall, one of Canada’s most accomplished litigators.

“It’s not fair and it’s hard not to think that the NDP are rigging the referendum to the result they want – this is a betrayal of the democratic principles that form the basis of our government,” said Gardner. “This process is fundamentally flawed and should be restarted to ensure its integrity.”

The full, 49-page filing can be found HERE.