Former B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm is touring the Okanagan area this weekend as he continues shoring up an army against the Harmonized Sales Tax. Vander Zalm will conduct a series of informational town hall meetings from Saturday to Wednesday to expand awareness for his petition and to sign up more volunteer canvassers. About 350 new canvassers were enlisted on a recent trip north bringing the total number of vol
unteers to between 2,500 and 3,000 provincewide so far. The tax was introduced by the Liberal government and goes into effect on July 1 of this year. Vander Zalm pointed out that wherever he goes, Finance Minister Colin Hansen seems to follow. “He showed up in Merritt two days after I went there. Then he tailed me to Dawson Creek and Fort St. John. I think we gave him the slip somewhere between Prince George and Smithers, but he‘ll probably find us again on this trip. Must be tough doing damage control for a tax that 85 per cent of British Columbians don‘t want.” He believes it would be easier and less costly if the government listened to the electorate rather than trying to convince people to accept a tax they don‘t want.Vander Zalm will be in Penticton on Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Lakeside Resort and from 2:30 to 4 p.m. at the Sonora Community Centre in Osoyoos. On Saturday, he will be in Kamloops, Vernon and Kelowna. This tour comes less than six months after a provincial rally was staged last September. Osoyoos resident Paul McCavour is an organizer and assistant financial agent for the Fight the HST group. He said a citizen‘s initiative was filed in February after a pre-canvassing drive last fall. Elections B.C. requires a 60-day waiting period after the initiative application is received and before actual canvassing is allowed. McCavour said that means they can begin collecting signatures on April 6. Plans are to hold signature “venues” rather than going door-to-door. In Penticton those will include Cherry Lane Shopping Centre, Elk‘s Club and the South Main Seniors Drop-In Centre. These are scheduled during the week of either April 19 or April 26.
McCavour was visiting downtown Penticton businesses earlier this week to notify owners about Vander Zalm‘s visit and their response has been overwhelmingly in favour of abolishing the HST, but it has not been an easy progression. “This is not user friendly,” he said. “There‘s a lot of things to work around, but if you‘re determined and organized you can do it.” Vander Zalm‘s petition requires the signatures of 10 per cent of registered voters in all 85 electoral districts to succeed. If the citizen‘s initiative petition is successfully completed, Elections B.C. will submit it to legislature for approval as law to eliminate the HST. The government could either repeal the HST or submit the initiative petition question to a provincewide referendum in September 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment