British Columbians have been clear; it’s time for Premier Campbell to get rid of the HST
With the announcement Wednesday that the Initiative Act Petition to repeal the HST has been successful, Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald is demanding that Premier Campbell listen to the people of British Columbia, call back the Legislature, and get rid of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST).
“The democratic will is clear,” Macdonald said in a statement “There is no doubt that the people want the HST to be repealed. In this riding alone, hundreds of volunteers came forward to gather signatures for the anti-HST petition. Signature collection in this area exceeded 35% of registered voters.”
Macdonald was commenting on news that although the petition was hugely successful, the acting chief electoral officer was refusing to act on it. You can read about that by clicking here.
To be successful, the Initiative Act Petition needed to collect the signatures of 10% of the registered voters in all 85 provincial ridings.
The implementation of the HST is a $2 billion tax shift from corporations to individuals, and residents are already feeling the pinch.
Businesses in border communities are also suffering as customers choose to take their business a few hours east to Alberta where there is no HST.
“People in this area know that the BC Liberals misled the public about their intention to implement the HST, and now regular people are paying the price for that deception,” Macdonald said.
The Elections BC announcement that the petition successfully met signature requirements should be enough to end the HST but instead of listening to the people, BC Liberal financial backers have launched a lawsuit that is now subverting the Initiative Act process. Elections BC will not proceed until the court case is resolved leaving the petition which was signed by more than 705,000 British Columbians in limbo.
“This court challenge is a clear attempt to quash the democratic will of the people. Everyone knows that the corporations behind the lawsuit are BC Liberal donors. The BC Liberals are doing everything they can to make sure that the public will is ignored.”
