He rallied against the privatization of B.C. Hydro. He spoke out against the sale of B.C. Rail. Now, Bill Vander Zalm is leading the charge in the battle against the harmonized sales tax. The former Social Credit premier of B.C. has been touring the province, rallying people against the tax that he called one of the biggest challenges to ever face the province. He stopped in Vernon Saturday afternoon to speak to more than 150 people. “Not only is it another tax, it is a cruel tax,” he told the audience of mostly seniors. Vander Zalm said the tax will come out of the pockets of seniors and working families while corporations reap the benefits of the tax refunds promised by the B.C. Liberal government. Estimates suggest the tax will cost each person in the province roughly $500 a year, so a family of four will pay $2,000 more in annual taxes. “It‘s in practically everything,” said Vander Zalm. “It‘s an unfair tax and (comes) when people can least afford it.”
Another issue that has come to forefront since he began the campaign is the issue of democracy and government actually listening to voters. Vander Zalm said as much as 85 per cent of people in the province oppose the tax, which takes effect July 1. “People across the province are coming to realize we don‘t have a democracy. (Instead), we elect dictators every four years,” he said to audience approval. To have the HST act repealed, 10 per cent of eligible voters in each riding must sign a petition against the tax. Vander Zalm expressed confidence that number will be reached. Vander Zalm said people in Northern B.C. were signing up in droves to help with the petition drive that begins April 6 and carries on for 90 days. “It‘s snowballing,” he said. “It‘s getting bigger.” In fact, Vander Zalm said the goal is to get 15 per cent of the eligible voters in each riding to sign on the dotted line. To date, more than 1,700 people have volunteered to help with the petition campaign.
Filling out a form at the back of the room Saturday was Aaron Burgess, manager of the Vernon Pantry restaurant. Restaurants are expected to be hit particularly hard when the tax comes in, and Burgess is concerned for his staff if the predicted decline in sales materializes. “This is the first time in eight years we‘ve looked at laying off people,” said Burgess, adding the economic downturn has already caused grief in the industry and the HST “could hit summer business hard.” “Smaller businesses will get hit the hardest. When the smaller companies go under, they (corporations) get the business and they raise prices because there is no competition.” When Vander Zalm told the audience the Liberals said the HST would result in lower prices, a round of laughter broke out. Vander Zalm said the tax breaks given to corporations would not be passed on to consumers. The anti-HST campaign continues today at 11:30 a.m. at the Penticton Lakeside Resort and then at 2:30 p.m. at the Sonora Community Centre in Osoyoos.
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Don Quixote Note: The STOP HST Campaign has 3 methods of trying to stop the "cruel tax":
- Petition Campaign that will run for 90 days from April 6th to July 5, 2010.
- Constitutional Challenge that will be attempted on a concurrent and continuing basis.
- Recall Campaign -(Cannot start before November 2010) if the petition campaign is successful but the the Provincial Government votes to ignore the results and continue the HST or refuses to sent the question to a Provincial Referendum then a RECALL Campaign of the most vulnerable MLA no voters in the Provincial Legislation will be initiated.
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