By Carol Linnett, Desmog Canada.

Leaked internal documents and theatrical political spin?

Nothing like a little intrigue to spice up your B.C. climate politics, amiright?

Just in case you weren’t aware, the race for political leadership in B.C. is on. With the May 9 election just three months away, it’s time for the mud-slinging to begin, I guess.

The BC Liberals aren’t wasting any time.

This morning the BC Liberals leaked internal NDP documents related to the official opposition’s climate plan — 90 minutes before NDP leader John Horgan was due to release the plan at a Vancouver press conference

Saucy.

(If you want to read Environment Minister Mary Polak’s bafflegab on the leaked documents, the Vancouver Sun gave her plenty of room here.)

But for those interested in the meat of the NDP’s actual plan to address climate change, there’s a lot in the documents that show the party is promising to take B.C. in a very different climate direction.

And in a rather hilarious twist, the very plan the BC Liberals leaked is now being praised by climate experts because it promises to actually reduce carbon pollution — something the current provincial government has consistently failed to do.

The NDP’s climate plan is also being praised precisely because it takes up the recommendations of Premier Christy Clark’s own Climate Leadership Team — a group of experts the premier hired to come up with a solid climate plan and then completely ignored.

One of the most striking aspects of the climate plan is its promise to unfreeze the provincial carbon tax, thereby addressing one of the most highly criticized climate moves of the B.C. government under Christy Clark.

“We are absolutely encouraged by this plan,” Josha MacNab, B.C. director of the Pembina Institute, told DeSmog Canada.

“It’s refreshing to see a commitment to reduce B.C.’s emissions and it’s encouraging to see the NDP take up the Climate Leadership Team’s recommendations because we know those recommendations offer a blueprint to actually meeting those emission reductions.”

The B.C. NDP plan is anchored in five guiding principles: reducing carbon pollution, increasing the carbon tax, keeping those increases affordable, investing in clean energy and regulating emissions on a sector by sector basis.