VICTORIA — A penny-a-litre jump at the gas pumps on Canada Day marks another anniversary of B.C.'s carbon tax.

B.C. introduced North America's only escalating carbon tax in 2008 as part of former premier Gordon Campbell's plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 33 per cent by 2020.

The tax started at about 2.4 cents per litre on gasoline and other fuels and increases to five-and-a-half cents per litre today.

It's slated to increase to almost seven cents per litre on gasoline or 30 dollars per tonne of carbon next July.

Jock Finlayson of the Business Council of B.C. says the government needs to reconsider the carbon tax because nobody seems to be following B.C.'s lead.

He says it puts B-C businesses at a big disadvantage to competitors outside the province.

But environmental groups like the Pembina Institute say the carbon tax is critical in the fight against climate change.