A nursery can be fertile ground for a tax revolt

Michael Smyth, The Province May 20, 2010

Bill Vander Zalm's "army" of anti-HST warriors figured out weeks ago that they didn't need to take their petitions door to door to crank up the signature count. It was much better to set up a signature stand in a public place and let the people come to them. One of the most effective sign-up spots: a busy garden nursery -- and not just because The Zalm is a wily old tulip salesman. An anti-HST warrior explained to me Wednesday that a nursery is the perfect spot to set up a petition table. For one thing, nurseries are swarming with customers this time of year as people clean up their gardens and get ready for summer. And unlike a local coffee shop, which might attract the same repeat customers day after day, a nursery draws a steady flow of fresh customers as green-thumbers make that annual springtime trek to the garden centre. Every new face is a potential petition signer.

But here's the best part: Several products sold at nurseries are going to get whacked hard by the HST, creating a motivated target audience. Grass seed, fertilizer, "food-producing plants and trees" like tomato plants and fruit trees and -- perhaps fittingly -- manure, are just some of the items that will rise in price on July 1. So much for this "green" government encouraging people to grow their own food! Even Christmas trees will get whacked by the HST -- although you won't find that one on the government's recently released list of goods and services that will rise in price under the new tax.

The government released that list on Friday, after repeatedly refusing to do so earlier. (Hey, cut them some slack -- it only took them 10 months.) But the list is incomplete and contains many glaring omissions of goods and services that will jump in price. In addition to Christmas trees, other items that didn't make the cut on the government's list include parking, catering, computer-repair services, fishing charters, home appraisals, investment counselling, limousine rentals and lift tickets at ski hills. All are going up in price by seven per cent. "We never said it was a comprehensive list," Finance Minister Colin Hansen explained Wednesday. Um, then what's the point? Still, Hansen said the government will amend the list to include omitted items. Why do I have a feeling that many goods and services still won't be disclosed?

Meanwhile, now that The Zalm's petition drive has hit an amazing 500,000 signatures with more than six weeks to go in the sign-up period, I am assured by my Liberal sources that the government is sweating bullets. The original strategy was just to ignore Vander Zalm. But how do you ignore half-a-million citizens? Heck, how do you ignore 750,000 -- or even more?For the government, the suddenly realistic prospect of recall looms large if they do. They are being overwhelmed by people power. They have no idea how to handle it. It's one of the coolest things I've ever seen.