VICTORIA, B.C.: Conservative MLAs Larry Neufeld and Sheldon Clare say the NDP government’s CleanBC review is ignoring the plan’s overwhelming economic harm and must be scrapped entirely.
“CleanBC is crushing families and workers in communities like mine,” said Larry Neufeld, Conservative Critic for Oil, Gas, and LNG. “Costs are rising, investment is fleeing, and industries that built this province are being regulated into decline. Calling this a review is dishonest. The only responsible path is to scrap CleanBC and start over.”
The analysis provided by the Industrial Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA) earlier this year outlines severe impacts on construction, natural gas, forestry, mining, manufacturing, transportation, and housing. Sheldon Clare says these consequences are being felt across the North and Interior in the form of mill closures, cancelled projects, and shrinking job opportunities. “People are losing work, losing income, and losing confidence in the future,” said Sheldon Clare, Conservative Environment Critic. “CleanBC is not a climate plan. It is an economic chokehold. The review refuses to acknowledge that reality.”
Neufeld and Clare add that the government’s removal of the consumer carbon tax does not address the more than 20 additional taxes, mandates, and regulatory measures embedded in CleanBC. They say British Columbians were told EV mandates and CleanBC targets were realistic, only for the government to now retreat from them because they were never achievable. “Families were misled,” said Neufeld. “Affordability collapsed while Victoria lectured people about targets they could never meet.”
The Conservatives are calling for CleanBC to be scrapped in full and replaced with a practical climate and energy plan that protects the environment without destroying the economy. “The NDP continues to warn about tariffs while ignoring that their own policies are doing twice the damage,” said Clare. “We need a climate plan that grows jobs, attracts investment, and strengthens energy security. CleanBC is doing the opposite. It is time to scrap it.”
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Media Contact:
Ryan Painter
Communications
Ryan.Painter@leg.bc.ca
