B.C. Conservative Party capitalizes on HST anger

Thursday, September 16, 2010CBC News:

B.C. Conservative Party president Wayne McGrath says his phone is ringing off the hook. (CBC)

Public anger over the B.C. Liberals' handling of the HST appears to be helping the seatless provincial Conservative Party in polls. It's been decades since the Conservatives were a force in provincial politics, but party president Wayne McGrath says he's received a deluge of membership applications this summer since the introduction of the unpopular HST. "The membership is growing at a rate we've never experienced before," McGrath said. "This week alone we've probably had about 50 new members coming in every day." The provincial party, which is no longer connected to the federal Conservative Party, doesn't even have a political leader after Wilf Hanni stepped down after the May 2009 election. The Conservatives have not held a seat in the legislature in Victoria since the 1980s. But a poll this week by the Mustel Group suggested they do have the support of roughly 11 per cent of decided voters, up from two per cent in the May 2009 election. A sense of betrayal appears to be a common element among the new Conservatives, who say they no longer feel the B.C. Liberals represent them."I had been involved with the B.C. Liberal party for a number of years," North Vancouver resident Peter Teevan told CBC News. The day the legislature approved the harmonized sales tax bill, Teevan joined the B.C. Conservatives, he said. Now, as a party organizer, he's watching membership surge, even without any sort of recruitment drive."We're not at the point yet where we're doing any organized membership drive or recruitment," he said. "People are looking for a solution and they're phoning us up." (more)