{"id":101091,"date":"2017-05-06T03:07:28","date_gmt":"2017-05-06T07:07:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=101091"},"modified":"2017-05-06T03:07:28","modified_gmt":"2017-05-06T07:07:28","slug":"b-c-s-clark-gains-energy-from-feds-new-democrats-urge-greens-to-their-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/05\/06\/b-c-s-clark-gains-energy-from-feds-new-democrats-urge-greens-to-their-side\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C.’s Clark gains energy from feds, New Democrats urge Greens to their side"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Liberal<\/a>
Liberal Leader Christy Clark’s bid to ban or tax thermal coal received a boost Friday from the federal government during the provincial election campaign, while NDP Leader John Horgan appealed to Green voters to join him to defeat the Liberals.(Photo: Christy Clark\/ Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VANCOUVER \u2014 Liberal Leader Christy Clark’s bid to ban or tax thermal coal received a boost Friday from the federal government during the provincial election campaign, while NDP Leader John Horgan appealed to Green voters to join him to defeat the Liberals.<\/p>\n

Clark issued a statement thanking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for \u201ccarefully and seriously\u201d considering her suggestion to ban or tax thermal coal coming from the United States after it put a tariff on Canadian softwood.<\/p>\n

\u201cBanning thermal coal exports through B.C. ports stands up for forest workers and helps fight climate change,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The United States announced a tariff of up to 24 per cent on Canadian softwood last week.<\/p>\n

Horgan campaigned Friday on southern Vancouver Island, where Green party officials say they have a chance of winning.<\/p>\n

He said the New Democrats have much in common with the Greens.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of our common interests will be lost if we have four more years of Christy Clark,\u201d he told supporters at a campaign stop in Nanaimo.<\/p>\n

Horgan said the Greens and NDP support reforms to the electoral system, reducing greenhouse gases and oppose the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion.<\/p>\n

Minutes after Horgan’s comments, Green Leader Andrew Weaver arrived outside the venue where Horgan spoke. He said Horgan’s appeal smacks of voter suppression.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m trying to inspire voters,\u201d said Weaver, who was on his way to campaign events on the Sunshine Coast.<\/p>\n

Clark spent the first part of day defending a little-known tax rebate program meant to attract international business to British Columbia that allowed TD Bank to claim a $2.8-million refund.<\/p>\n

Her government challenged the company’s claim for the refund in court because TD filed its paperwork a day late. The Court of Appeal ruled last month that B.C. must reconsider the bank’s request for a time extension to claim the money.<\/p>\n

Clark said the International Business Activity Act has created more revenue than it has cost and it’s aimed at luring companies to B.C.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe evidence tells us it’s helping create jobs in British Columbia,\u201d she said. \u201cThe evidence tells us that it’s been a good investment. We need to grow those programs … that are aimed at attracting head offices from around the world to Vancouver.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program came under scrutiny this week after a story was published by the New York Times saying it created fewer than 300 jobs while giving $140 million in refunds since 2008.<\/p>\n

However, the Liberal party said a study by the government found the program created 1,140 jobs between 2004 and 2007.<\/p>\n

The NDP said in a statement that residents deserve answers about a program that allows unnamed corporations to receive an unknown amount of taxpayer money with no discernible benefits for B.C.<\/p>\n

The program was created in 1988 when Social Credit was in power. Horgan said it was a modest program under former Social Credit and New Democrat governments.<\/p>\n

Since then, he said the Liberals have increased funding for the program by 1,000 per cent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a program that is giving corporate welfare to one of the most profitable banks in the country. We’ve asked the auditor general to get to the bottom of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark, who also campaigned on Vancouver Island on Friday, said the program was always aimed at companies that are going to create jobs in B.C.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess the folks in Finance decided that (TD Bank) met that goal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VANCOUVER \u2014 Liberal Leader Christy Clark’s bid to ban or tax thermal coal received a boost Friday from the federal …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":86657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,18,16],"tags":[1000],"class_list":["post-101091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news-ca","category-news","tag-christy-clark","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}