May 26, 2010

Anti-HST campaigners in British Columbia say that they are just one riding away from gathering enough signatures to force the provincial government to reconsider the Harmonized Sales Tax.

The group took the traditionally Liberal stronghold of Richmond East on Wednesday and they expect to take the 85th and final B.C. riding of Vancouver-Langara by the weekend.

Richmond East Liberal MLA Linda Reid, who has served the riding for 20 years, doesn’t seem too concerned.

“The reality is the majority of Richmond residents understand that at the end of the day this is about Canada’s competitiveness,” she said.

But petition organizers say they now have enough signatures in Richmond East, and are calling on the Campbell government to immediately repeal the tax.

“This is a referendum, and the government doesn’t need to spend another $20 million postponing the thing. They can deal with it,” said former B.C. Premier Bill Vander Zalm.

But repealing the tax is not on Premier Gordon Campbell’s agenda. He believes it will bolster B.C.’s economy by allowing the government to provide better services.

“It’s going to generate literally tens of thousands of jobs over the next few years, billions of dollars in investment, and it’s going to make our taxation regime the most competitive in the world,” he said.

The petition will be submitted on July 5 and could lead to a number of possible scenarios.

First Elections B.C. has to review the petition. It could then get to legislature by September where it could be voted on. It could go to a referendum and trigger a recall campaign.

Vander Zalm expects the debate may end up triggering a recall campaign in November, but he hopes it doesn’t come to that.

“We never did want to turn out a government or cause a bunch of bi-elections that was never the intent. It was always to kill the HST, but they’re so stubborn. I can’t believe it. We were never that stubborn,” he said.