BC Premier David Eby has made a dramatic U-turn on the carbon tax, just eleven months after pledging he would never back down from it.

This shift comes only five weeks before the provincial election, scheduled for October 19, where his party is in a tight race with the surging BC Conservatives, led by John Rustad.

“A lot of British Columbians are struggling with affordability, and the political consensus we had in B.C. has been badly damaged by the federal government’s approach,” Eby told reporters Thursday.

He continued, “If they decide to remove the legal backstop requiring us to have a consumer carbon tax, we will end the consumer carbon tax in B.C.”

His comments mark a complete reversal of his long-standing position that, even if the Trudeau Liberals scrapped their carbon levy, B.C. would retain its own.

Eby flip flops

At the B.C. NDP’s convention in November 2023, Eby told 700 delegates from across the province that he was fully committed to keeping the carbon tax in place, even if Ottawa no longer mandated it.

“Let me be clear, we will not back down,” he said last year. “God forbid, if the rest of the country abandons the fight against climate change, B.C. will stand strong.”

Following Eby’s sudden reversal, BC Conservative leader John Rustad claimed victory, releasing a statement on social media, saying:

“David Eby has lied to British Columbians before, and he’ll do it again. He’s flip-flopped on this because he’s losing ground, and if re-elected, he’ll waste no time reversing his position on this tax.”

According to 338Canada, Eby’s NDP and Rustad’s Conservatives are both polling at 44%, as of Thursday, September 12.