Anti-HST rally this weekend

Steve MacNaull 2009-09-15 Kelowna Daily Courier:

Kelowna is getting its own anti-HST rally to coincide with the giant gathering planned for Vancouver Saturday. Kelowna‘s protest starts at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at The Sails sculpture and features a march through downtown to First United Church at the corner of Bernard Avenue and Richter Street. Arriving there around 1 p.m. a lineup of guest speakers will slam the 12 per cent HST (harmonized sales tax) that the provincial Liberal government will institute July 1. Protesters are urged to bring placards that show their displeasure. “We want to get the point across that this is not the time to start shifting taxes from business to consumers,” said Kelowna rally organizer Matthew Reed. “We are not out of this recession, and unemployment is high. Now is not the time to burden the general public more.”


Reed ran unsuccessfully in the last provincial election for the NDP in Kelowna-Lake Country. Besides Reed, others scheduled to outline their opposition to HST include Mary Ann Graham, who ran for the B.C. Conservative Party in Kelowna-Lake Country in the last election, a restaurateur and a realtor. Reed, like many others, is also peeved that the Liberals didn‘t mention the HST in their re-election campaign in May, only to announce it as a done deal a few months later.

The Kelowna event is one of a dozen other similar protests planned in cities across the province, including Vernon, Oliver and Osoyoos. They are all around noon to parallel the flagship Vancouver rally, which is being held at Canada Place.

Former Social Credit premier Bill Vander Zalm has come out of the political woodwork to campaign against the HST and help organize the series of rallies. During a stop in Kelowna 2 1/2 weeks ago, Vander Zalm described the HST as the issue that will make sure the Liberals are not re-elected. He also said the average household will pay about $1,500 more a year because of the HST. Vander Zalm will fire up protesters at the Vancouver rally along with NDP Leader Carole James.

“(HST) has people joining together across political lines,” said James during a recent anti-HST stop in Kelowna. “It‘s because the anger is building and it‘s not just opposition about another tax. It‘s opposition against a government that lied to British Columbians. We are saying: This is not OK. We have the get the government to back down.” The 12 per cent HST will replace the five per cent GST (goods and services tax) and seven per cent PST (provincial sales tax). Many items that currently only carry GST will carry the HST when it is instituted. Businesses will get a HST rebate in an effort to make the province more competitive with other jurisdictions around the world. While consumers will pay HST, the government expects the tax to be neutral as business passed their savings onto consumers in the form of lower overall prices.