If the government really wants to tax someone, they should tax the residents of the Lower Mainland. They are the only people who actually have an alternative to driving.

It'll never happen because Carol Taylor, Gordon Campbell and all his cronies need money to pay for the Olympics and where better to get it than from the Heartlands or I should say Wastelands of BC.

I agree completely with acrider54.
But, if the Campbell dictatorship in the ivory towers of Victoria insist on nailing northern communities with this ill thought out tax,then they also have an obligation to provide alternative transportion!
Just like the lower mainland.
So where is it Gordo?
Somebody get a rope!

The north only has 8 MLAs. The delta has 72. Guess who is going to pay? Lucky the NDP is not in power, we'd be paying a nitrogen tax as well!

I read that letter. Nice try.

RUEZ the lower mainland already has an additional tax on their gas that the north doesn't have. I think it's like 3 cents or so. It's intended to help pay for transit.

I think it is for the GVRD area.

Does that math work?? Increase to city should be $28,000.

You are correct realitysetsin and I believe it IS a 3 cent tax,,however,the lower mainland actually HAS some real transit services!
We here in the northern reaches of B.C.have nothing of any consequence.
Oh wait...we have Greyhound...and a very bad railway!

This is how the media, including opinion250 in this case, is duped into perpetuating falsehood.

Carbon Tax. Bull Sh**.

If the media would call this tax a gas tax, that would be fair; calling it a carbon tax is untruthful, and should be left to the political framers.

I hope to see Opinion250 mention this tax as "...gas tax, labeled a carbon tax,..." from now on.

Correct bohemian...it IS a gas tax and nothing more!
I will be reminding Gordon Campbell and his gang of thieves of that at election time!

What we need in this province is an alternative other than the NDP and the Liberal parties. Clearly they don't know what's best for most of the province outside of the Lower Mainland.

In Prince George, the City’s fleet services fuel bill is approximately $1.2 million dollars a year.

The City could reduce gas consumption by getting some of its emplyees out of full sized trucks and using smaller more fule effiecient vehicles. Instead of costing $150 bucks a fillup it would cost $50.00.

The bylaws people could actually use small cars and many others as well.

Cheers

I agree Ruez!
They don't even know where northern B.C. even is,never mind what it contributes to the economy of B.C.!
Unfortunately,because people don't like the opposition,they forget all that at elcetion time.
Crap like this is the end result!

"If the government really wants to tax someone, they should tax the residents of the Lower Mainland. They are the only people who actually have an alternative to driving."

I agree completely.

In an area where smog prevails most days, infrastructure is stretched to capacity, and many really good alternatives to driving your own vehicle exist and are also very convenient and affordable....250,000 vehicles are needed to move 250,000 people from the outer reaches of the Fraser Valley to Vancouver, and back again every day !

On the darker side, the price of fuel is going to start undermining the economy.

If they give away milk for free, we will not be able to afford the transpotation costs to get it here.

I just want to know where this extra tax income the gov't is going to be getting is going? They can make up what ever taxes they wish, we have no say - at election time...we just try to pick the lesser of 2 evils. I don't believe we live in a democracy - once the liars are in, we have no say as citizens as to what they do...how is this "gas/carbon tax" going to be used - to line the fat wallets of this great province I suppose...if someone out there knows the answer I would love to hear it.

What a bunch of cry babies!!! ...

terrible government for taxing the use of something which we have

Here are a few prices during the past weeek in those terrible countries that are loosing their global competitivenes due to the high price of gasoline. Everyone is sitting at home and not moving anywhere. They are doomed!!

Date 3/17/08

Belgium $8.56
France $8.16
Germany $8.53
Italy $8.26
Netherlands $9.14
UK $8.07
US $3.50

scroll to the bottom. The full history of prices over the last 10 years on a weekly basis.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/gas1.html

If you want to see what countries do with those kind of gas taxes or carbon taxes or research taxes or whatever you want to call them, then read this article in the Globe and Mail. Notice that the research occured in Canada and that the subsidy to get the product to market was provided by Germany.

Anything we can learn from that?

Perhaps we should subsidize our gas so that we can get it as cheap as the few cents per litre as it is sold for in Venuzuela, you know, the country that is a world export power.

;-)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080322.RCOVER22/TPStory/?query=german

http://www.arisetech.com/content/view/186/98/

Nice plant, eh?

So, what would it take to get the next PV plant in the world to be built in Canada and specifically in Prince George?

I think we can assume that German wages are higher than wages in PG and the cost of living there is also higher.

We have tons of land. Could give it away for nothing, 150 year lease for a buck.

Build it in a nice technology park next to UNBC. Ship things out by containers that are returning empty. Clean industry.

Only in Germany you say? Pitty!

;-)

Owl, frankly I don't care what Europe pays for gasoline. They are not my concern. Being overtaxed by my government in the name of a useless greenhouse gas reduction plan is my concern. Going broke because the Liberals tax the thing that I must have to get to work bothers me. It's one thing to let the market set the price, it's another thing all together when your government starts taxing your gas to get you to quit driving without giving you an alternative. What's next? How about a tax on food so fat people won't eat as much?

Belgium $8.56
France $8.16
Germany $8.53
Italy $8.26
Netherlands $9.14
UK $8.07
US $3.50

Price in PG is $1.16

Wow!

??? ... sorry, those are per US gallon since it is a site from the USA where those are posted ... so, roughly $4.60 or so in PG.

RUEZ .. I realize there are a lot of people who do not care about anyone other than themselves. That is allowed .. :-)

I was speaking to those who think that the economy would come crashing down around them. That is not what is actually happening in most of those countries which have had high gas prices for some time.

Add the population of all those countries and you will get a number less than that of the USA. look at their exports, look at the balance of payments, and they will be considerably better than those of the USA as well as China. With expensive labour, they have been managing to hold their own against cheap labour by going for qulity products and specialty products.

As it says in the article, for example, when it comes to biomass conversion to energy, we have the biomass, but they have the machinery and controls which allow the conversion to take place. They provide the tools. They provide the maintenance.

Due to high gasoline prices, they have developed and built the cars with high efficiency engines. They are getting their energy more and more from alternate sources. As it says, 7% of the electricity produced in Germany comes from wind turbines. That type of inovation and application does not come in countries where fossil fuel energy prices are kept low.

wow!! yama didn't blame the NDP!

The people of B.C.are SUPPOSED to own the resources we are getting hosed on.
Some countries have it,and some don't, and the ones that don't SHOULD pay more.
So sorry.
But we do have the resources,and I really don't give a tinker's damn what another country is paying!
The underlying fact is that a lot of people are getting very wealthy off of our resources, and it sure isn't the taxpayers!
They are going farther in the hole!
And if we think it's bad right now,just wait,you ain't seen nothin'yet!
The more bulls**t they can pound down our throats,the higher the prices will go!
The biggest mistake we make,is believing that we are being told the truth.
We are told what they want us to hear!

The taxpayers? Farther in the hole? What about our national debt thanks to Trudeau? But then again, $500 billion dollars of debt in Canada is chump change to the good ol' US debt. Everything is relative, pal. Count yer blessings. Bottom line? You get enough to eat and have a warm bed. Half the world doesn't. So there!

Owl:

"Belgium $8.56
France $8.16
Germany $8.53
Italy $8.26
Netherlands $9.14
UK $8.07
US $3.50"

In 1938 Mexico nationalized the domestic oil industry and kicked the American and British oil giants out.

It cost the country dearly over the next half a century, economically having been put on the blacklist as far as foreign investment was concerned.

PEMEX is state owned. When the Mexicans signed on to NAFTA, they managed to exclude the state owned oil industry and even their water resources, amongst other things.

The Mexican people own the oil and the industry that exploits the resource.

Result: A US gallon of gasoline in Mexico costs less than half of what it costs in Canada, about $ 2.22 US.

We signed NAFTA and Mulroney gave away the things that Mexico did not.

Last year Mexicans purchased more new vehicles than were sold in Canada.

(Hope I didn't slander anybody).

Cheers!

I like how people immediately point to other countries/provinces fuel rates, electricity rates, natural gas rates, etc... as if to say our rates getting jacked up is okay, because other people pay more.

I have an idea for the crackpots advocating this line of thinking. If you think it's okay to pay more because other places pay more, MOVE to the place paying more.

It costs more to drive in europe, but their wages are higher (look at the exchange rate between their currency and ours), they have a mass transit system which makes the lower mainland's system look like it's out of the stone age, and they don't have as far to travel for anything but recreation. In fact, Europeans get a hell of a lot more for their tax dollar than we do.

Other places paying higher costs is NOT, I repeat, NOT NOT NOT a justification for our costs going up.

I fail to see the point in Fort Nelson, or any small community contacting parliament and trying to get a carbon tax exception. Does anyone honestly think Carole Taylor didn't realize it was going to harm northern residents more than anyone?

They're not retarded, they're conniving crooks out to pad their own pockets as much as possible before enough people realize what they are and vote them out of office, just like every politician we have ever had in Victoria for as long as I can remember.


Maybe the point is to empty out rural BC as fast as possible to sell off all our natural assets to American interests without local resistance. The BC Liberals hate the north, and so do the NDP, who do nothing but show up for photo ops at demolished mills and speak with insincere raised voices in parliament.

At this point the best thing we could do is break away from BC and join the United States outright, so at least the lower mainland would have to bargain with us instead of trying to figure out how to slip it in while we're sleeping.

Chug, (is 'Chug' p.c. by the way?)
I agree with you, good points.
Owl, if I may presume, looking at the numbers as follows puts it into perspective for me;
Belgium $2.26/l
France $2.16/l
Germany $2.26/l
Italy $2.19/l
Netherlands $2.42/l
U.K. $2.13/l
U.S. $.93/l
The above is derived from Owl's numbers which are dollars per U.S. gallon, which amounts to 3.78 litres. For me at least, the numbers do not appear to be nearly as sensational (no offense to the Owl)
The facts remain; we pay plenty, and are unfairly taxed on our own resources.
It is true that the lower drainland has a transit levy on a litre of gasoline, at least in certain areas, but how come the gasoline down there is often cheaper than right here in PG? It does not seem fair somehow.
metalman.

"For me at least, the numbers do not appear to be nearly as sensational."

I agree that they are not sensational at all. Thatr is why I wonder why people are complaining when the price is at $1.20 or so. Shows no one is really interested in weaning the population from a bad habit.

;-)

I wonder why Mexico's gasoline costs sdo much. Venuzuelan gasolne prices are a few cents per litre.

I do not think people really know how expensive the oil is that is being extracted from the oil sands. As far as I know it is by far the most expensive money wise and environmentally of any major oil source in the world.

I bet you it is probably cheaper to gasify the coal in the Ruhr and other coal bearing areas in the world than to boil the oil out of the sedimentary deposits in the oil sands.