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Starting on Canada Day, British Columbia will add provincial sales tax to all carbonated beverages that contain sugar.The new rules span bottled and canned soda, as well as beverages dispensed through soda fountains, soda guns and vending machines.Finance Minister Carole James announced in her budget last week that the 7% provincial sales tax will takes effect on July 1 and is expected to generate $27 million in revenues in the 2020-2021 budget year.Belgium, United Kingdom, Mexico, Chile, France, Portugal, Norway and Hungary charge an excise tax of 20% on such drinks, while eight cities in the United States also levy sugar taxes, including Berkeley, Calif., where a University of California study published last year in the American Journal of Public Health found sugar-drink consumption was down almost 52% in some neighbourhoods and water consumption was up 29%.The B.C.

Two of Ontario's biggest utilities have formed a new company to create a province-wide fast-charger network for electric vehicles.The Ivy Charging Network is scheduled to have 160 Level-3 fast-chargers at its 73 locations throughout southern, eastern and western Ontario.The Ivy is a limited partnership owned equally by the government-owned Ontario Power Generation and Hydro One Ltd., a publicly traded former Crown corporation that owns the province's largest electric grid.They say the Ivy network will be an unregulated business that can provide a new revenue stream for both companies without affecting Ontario electricity rates.It has selected Greenlots, a member of the Shell Group, to operate and manage the electric charging network.Natural Resources Canada provided an $8-million repayable contribution to help build the electric vehicle charging network.