B.C. Premier David Eby says his government is drafting legislation to scrap the province's consumer carbon tax following a promise from Prime Minister Mark Carney to do the same.

Eby made the comments Friday afternoon at a town hall in Surrey to discuss the threat of tariffs from the United States.

"This is the first time we've shared this, is that British Columbia will be introducing a law before April 1 that ensures that British Columbians don't have to pay that increase on April 1," he said, referring to the scheduled increase of $15/tonne that is required by federal legislation.

Following that, he said, his party would be moving to scrap the tax "altogether."

Eby's announcement came just moments before Mark Carney, in his first act as the new prime minister of Canada, gave an order-in-council to remove the federal carbon tax.

First carbon tax in Canada

British Columbia was the first jurisdiction in Canada to introduce carbon pricing through a consumer tax, under then-premier Gordon Campbell of the B.C. Liberals, which was at the time the province's centre-right leaning party.

The tax, introduced in 2008, was initially set at $10 per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions and was meant to be revenue-neutral, with the government refunding costs to lower-income residents.

Its creation was opposed by the NDP, which launched an "axe the tax" campaign, arguing it would kill jobs and campaigned on a promise to repeal it if it won the next election.

It did not, and the tax proved popular. Several economists credited it with helping reduce emissions while also growing the economy. Eventually, the NDP came around, as well, and kept it in place after forming government in 2017.

But the popularity waned when Justin Trudeau introduced federal requirements in 2019 that provinces either put their own price on carbon or submit to federal guidelines.

In the years that followed, the federal Conservatives under Pierre Poilievre campaigned on a pledge to "axe the tax." While campaigning for the leadership of the federal Liberals, Carney said the policy was "too divisive" and promised to kill it despite his support for carbon pricing.

During last year's provincial leadership campaign, Eby also acknowledged the divisiveness of the carbon tax and said that if the federal requirement to have one in place was dropped, he would follow suit, instead shifting focus to targeting "big polluters" to pay their "fair share."

He said much the same Friday, telling people in Surrey that climate change is a continued threat and his party will take steps to make sure that "big polluters pay" and move to adopt pollution-reducing technologies, noting the urgent need to reduce emissions given the impacts of drought, forest fire and other disasters in B.C.

New opportunities

Thomas Green, a climate policy adviser at the David Suzuki Foundation, said although most households were better off thanks to the rebate that came with the tax, Eby's move to end it was broadly expected.

"Unfortunately the price on pollution had become politically toxic. There was a lot of misinformation about it," Green said.

With the consumer carbon tax in the rearview mirror, Green said governments now have an opportunity to focus on new policies to address climate change.

"The technology to reduce our emissions is there," he said. "I don't think people expected the technology for … solar panels, electric cars, [and] batteries would become so good."

Green said he hopes to see politicians from all parties support new bills to fight climate change.

"We have the option to quickly switch the economy to running on electricity, clean electricity we can produce here in Canada with renewables rather than using fossil fuels. So that's going to improve affordability," he said.

Industrial emitters

B.C. Conservative Party Opposition Leader John Rustad said he thinks it's time to eliminate all components of the carbon tax, including the tax on industrial emitters — a component that was not changed by Eby's announcement.

"Now is the time to be decisive ... by eliminating the carbon tax entirely," he said.

"We need to make strategies to adapt to our changing climate. We need to make sure that we focus on affordability ... and encourage investment in new technologies so that we can be far more efficient in the energy we do consume."

The British Columbia Choral Federation (BCCF) and the Vancouver-based EnChor Choir will be welcoming singers and audiences to the Semiahmoo Peninsula for the federation's upcoming Seniors’ Chorfest 2025, scheduled for April 9 and 10 at White Rock Baptist Church in South Surrey.

The Seniors’ Chorfest is a popular tradition that usually takes place every few years across the province – but the last event was held in Kelowna in pre-pandemic 2019.

Returning to the Lower Mainland this year with a 'Colours of Spring' theme, the revived festival promises a blend of rehearsals, social gatherings, and performances, providing an unforgettable musical experience for longtime singers.

“White Rock was home to BCCF Seniors' Chorfest twice before — in 2005 and 2017 — under the leadership of White Rock’s Kent Street Choristers,” noted Willi Zwozdesky, BCCF executive director.

“This year’s 20th anniversary return marks an exciting full-circle for all of us.”

Event clinician will be Canadian conductor, composer, and arranger Erica Phare-Bergh.

Formerly based in Victoria and now residing in Alberta, Phare-Bergh has led multiple choirs, including Voices in Motion, an intergenerational research choir uniting individuals with dementia with their caregivers, students, and friends through music.

As hosts of the Seniors’ Chorfest, Vancouver’s EnChor Choir will be welcoming over 120 singers from choirs across B.C. The festival also welcomes individual participants as well as full or partial choirs.

Highlighting the event will be a gala concert with a mass choir performance, featuring a repertoire selected, arranged and led by Phare-Bergh to match the 'Colours of Spring' theme.

The diverse repertoire will include composers ranging from Cree-Dene artist Sherryl Sewepagaham to the late George Harrison of the Beatles.

“Also figuring prominently in the celebrations will be choral arrangements by Erica,” Zwozdesky added.

“This will provide a rare opportunity for us to work with the arranger from start to stage.”

Morna Edmundson, artistic director of EnChor Choir, said she is also looking forward to working with Phare-Bergh.

“I've known Erica for decades, and she has a lot to offer in what I know will be an uplifting couple of days."

She added she believes strongly in events such as the Chorfest because of the opportunity they provide to bring people together through music.

"Sitting beside a stranger with whom one shares the bond of choral singing is a joyful experience,” she said.

Non-singers who wish to support the event as spectators will be able to purchase tickets for the mass choir performance, which will take place at 7 p.m., April 10 at White Rock Baptist Church (1657-140th St.)

For more information, visit bcchoralfed.com/seniorschorfest or email seniorschorfest@bcchoralfed.com.

Surrey, B.C., Mayor Brenda Locke has signed onto an alliance advocating for Canadian border communities, saying U.S. tariffs would put hundreds of jobs in her city at risk.

Locke said Thursday that 20 per cent of businesses in Surrey have direct trade ties with the United States, amounting to roughly $2.8 billion in cross-border commerce each year.

"The introduction of these tariffs threatens to disrupt vital supply chains impacting cities and communities across the country, and therefore demands a Canada-first approach," Locke said.

The Border Mayors Alliance includes about 20 Canadian mayors and was formed in response to the threat from U.S. President Donald Trump to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all goods imported from Canada as early as Saturday.

Surrey is home to two border crossings, including the Peace Arch crossing, one of the busiest in Canada.

Locke said the city is also the "hub" of B.C.'s trucking industry.

A statement from the City of Surrey says it has approximately 113 import and export businesses and 900 transportation and warehousing companies that may experience "spillover consequences" if there is a disruption in manufacturing and exporting activities.

WATCH | Mayors of Canadian border communities join together against tariff threat:

2 months ago

Duration 2:03

As Canada waits to see whether U.S. President Donald Trump imposes a 25 per cent tariff on all imports, some mayors in towns along the border have formed an alliance. As Corey Bullock reports, the tariffs would devastate towns like Creston in British Columbia.

The alliance's co-founder, Creston, B.C., Mayor Arnold DeBoon, told CBC News tariffs would undoubtedly affect major employers in the Creston Valley too, including three lumber mills and the Kokanee beer brewing company.

Creston, located in southeastern B.C., is about 10 kilometres from the Rykerts border, which crosses into Idaho.

"It's going to have an impact," said DeBoon. "We are going to see mills possibly close, or at least very much curtail their activities. And they are good paying jobs."

Windsor, Ont., Mayor Drew Dilkens, chair of the alliance, told a news conference in Surrey on Thursday that mayors of border cities and towns witness first hand how interconnected communities are on either side of the border.

"The alliance notes that our two nations have never faced a circumstance that so profoundly threatens our shared economy and poses such devastating impacts on our country, on our cities, and, of course, on our families," he said.

Trump's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told reporters earlier this week that a Feb. 1 date was "still on the books" for imposing tariffs against both Canada and Mexico.

B.C. Premier David Eby said this week that any money gained through possible retaliatory tariffs should be immediately used to help businesses survive and diversify their markets away from the United States.

All three levels of government in Canada have been responding to the tariff threat, with premiers holding a virtual meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, Public Safety Minister David McGuinty and Immigration Minister Marc Miller are all in or travelling to Washington, D.C., Thursday and Friday for meetings with senators and some of Trump's team.

Canadian premiers have a trade mission to Washington planned for Feb. 12.

According to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, $3.6 billion in goods cross the Canada-U.S. border every day.

The Juno Awards may still be weeks away, but Surrey is getting an early taste of the excitement with a free, massive music festival this weekend.

The Let's Hear It B.C. Junos Plaza Party will take place at Surrey Civic Plaza on Saturday, with more than 30 artists across six stages from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.

This festival is part of a provincewide tour leading up to the 2025 Juno Awards, set to be held at Vancouver's Rogers Arena on March 30.

Organizers say the goal is to spread the Juno vibes beyond the city's downtown core.

WATCH: Chani Nattan and Inderpal Moga made history with their Juno Award nomination:

6 days ago

Duration 0:55

First-time Juno nominee Chani Nattan started his career by making religious music, and now he and Inderpal Moga are collaborating with Jazzy B, the Punjabi Canadian artist they looked up to growing up.

"We want to make sure that the spirit of the award goes to far more places," said Neesha Hothi, director of marketing and communications for the Vancouver Juno Host Committee. "And Surrey is one of those stops."

The festival's lineup includes 2025 Juno nominees Tyler Joe Miller, Chani Nattan, and Inderpal Moga, as well as Punjabi music icon Sarbjit Cheema.

Hothi says Surrey's musicians are making their mark in Canadian music.

"[The city] is booming with artistry right now, especially from the South Asian music scene," she said. "It is the epicentre of that diaspora's music scene right now, and we really want to celebrate that."

Local Bhangra superstar Jazzy B was nominated for COOLIN with Nattan and Moga for the inaugural South Asian Music Recording of the Year Award.

Country singer Miller, a Surrey native, will also perform at the festival. His album Going Home is nominated for Country Album of the Year at the Junos, marking this his second consecutive nomination.

Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke called the festival a fitting celebration of the city's diverse music scene.

"[It] is the perfect way to celebrate the incredible talent being recognized at the 2025 Juno Awards—right here in the heart of Surrey," Locke said in a statement. "With over 30 artists representing our diverse cultural community, this festival will be a day to remember and showcase the incredible talent that Surrey has to offer."

Other performers at the event will include Shawnee Kish, Brass Camel, Luca Fogale, Fionn, Empanadas Ilegales, and Ginalina, spanning genres from country and pop to folk and Punjabi music.

It will also feature an open jam session, a 5X Art Party with South Asian DJs, family-friendly activities, food trucks, and a beer garden. Organizers say all performance areas are covered or indoors, ensuring the event will go on rain or shine.

Hothi says the festival is all about making the Junos accessible to fans across the province.

"We know that the Junos can only happen in one spot," she said. "But that doesn't mean that B.C. isn't entirely full of incredible music, musicians, and fans."

Other Let's Hear It B.C. stops include Terrace, Prince George, Kelowna, Victoria, and Nanaimo, with Surrey's event being one of the largest.

The event is free and open to all ages.

A Surrey business owner is caught in the crossfire of a looming Canada-U.S. trade war, claiming his usually busy duty-free shop has already been hit hard, as British Columbians reconsider travel plans.

“Our business has dropped over 80 per cent and now we have reduced our staff and reduced our working hours,” said Peter Raju, owner of Peace Arch Duty Free by the Highway 99 border crossing. “This morning, we are now operating on a skeleton staff of only three to four people when usually we have about 20 people working.”

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Raju claims the drop in business started after Premier David Eby recently urged British Columbians to reconsider travel plans to the U.S. in response to President Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs on Canadian goods headed into the United States.

He says he is also struggling with the push to remove American booze from store shelves.

“What benefit is there to removing already-paid-for American liquor? You remove what you’ve paid for and then put it back. I can see not ordering any new liquor but why would remove and stop having it shipped to us when you’ve already paid for it?”

He also believes British Columbians will continue to shop for cheaper U.S. booze in Washington and bring it back across the border.

“The federal customs officers will not stop you from bringing it into Canada. I just don’t understand the sense of it,” he told 1130 NewsRadio on Monday.

Raju says he has repeatedly requested meetings with the provincial government to discuss ways to help businesses like his stay competitive.

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“All I am asking for is a meeting with somebody from either the Premier’s Office or the Ministry of Public Safety and the liquor board to sit with us and see how we can resolve this matter instead of closing a business down,” he said.

“They are not offering us any help or even consulting with us as to what could be done. We are saying remove the [BC Liquor Distribution Branch] from our business so we can compete in an open field,” he said.

“Canada is the only country where duty-free shops have to buy from the liquor board and pay them a huge markup. We don’t get any benefit.”

Raju believes reducing or eliminating the 20 per cent BCLDB markups would help B.C. duty-free shops compete with less expensive American alcohol, as well as liquor shipped into B.C. from Alberta.

“And then there will be a level playing field and we will compete and deal with this just like any other business,” he added. “Now with the premier’s statement and inaction, it’s going to force us to close a business that has been in existence for over 40 years. There’s no way we can operate at these sales levels.”