“This budget is alarmingly short-sighted and irresponsible,” said Ben West, Healthy Communities Campaigner for the Wilderness Committee.

“There are no new ideas here, just the outdated policy emphasis of exploiting BC’s resources with little regard to living up to the province’s commitments to tackle climate change.”

The 2012 budget includes numerous subsidies to the oil and gas sector while continuing to drastically underfund environmental oversight. Spending on highway expansion projects yet again far exceeds allocations for public transit infrastructure and service while transportation emissions continue to be the leading source of green house gas emissions in the province.

The budget also includes an upcoming review of the carbon tax while the dollars per tonne value remains the same. No new funding or tax credits are provided for housing retrofits, green building, or the carbon neutral public sector initiative.

“BC is rapidly losing its reputation as a leader in the global campaign to address the challenges of climate change," said West. "Our greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets have now all but disappeared, despite the fact that the people of this province still care deeply about the impacts of climate change already being felt around the world.”

“How are the people of BC supposed to reduce their emissions if they don’t have transportation alternatives and they don’t have the help they need to reduce energy use at home? These kind of initiatives would not only be the responsible things to do but they are also a great way to create local jobs,” said West.

“This budget shows no vision for the future of our province. Our premier’s priority seems to be about protecting corporate profits at the expense of putting our province’s future and our role in the world at great risk,” said West.

Contact:

Ben West, Healthy Communities Campaigner, Wilderness Committee - (604) 710 5340