XPost: bc.politics, van.general, vic.general   
      
   Hahahahaha !!  They deserve a full escort with flags and flashers.   
   ______________________________   
      
   June 30, 2010 - By CBC News   
   B.C. anti-HST petition heads to Victoria   
      
   B.C.'s anti-HST organizers are taking boxes of petition forms to the Victoria   
   offices of   
   Elections BC, a day before the tax takes effect.   
   Wednesday is a pivotal day for B.C.'s anti-HST campaign as organizers   
   personally deliver   
   boxes of petition forms to the Victoria offices of Elections BC - one day   
   before the new   
   sales tax takes effect.   
      
   Former premier Bill Vander Zalm and B.C. Conservative Party Deputy Leader   
   Chris Delaney   
   were among the group that boarded a ferry bound for Vancouver Island on   
   Wednesday morning.   
      
   The group of HST opponents rented a large truck to transport the estimated   
   100,000 sheets   
   of paper bearing the signatures of more than 700,000 British Columbians who   
   want the 12   
   per cent harmonized sales tax scrapped.   
      
   Elections BC is the government agency responsible for examining and counting   
   the   
   signatures and declaring whether the petition is valid and could result in a   
   provincewide   
   referendum.   
      
   The signed names on the sheets are from more than 15 per cent of the   
   registered voters in   
   each of the province's 85 ridings, organizers have said. B.C.'s Initiatives   
   Act stipulates   
   that 10 per cent of registered voters are required for a valid petition.   
      
   HST discord   
   Meanwhile, as the deputy leader of the B.C. Conservative Party joined Vander   
   Zalm in   
   delivering the petition, one of the party's vice-presidents stepped down on   
   Wednesday,   
   saying the party was actually in favour of the tax.   
      
   Mischa Popoff said there is a mistaken impression that the B.C. Conservatives   
   want to   
   eliminate the tax.   
      
   "This isn't true, unfortunately, even though I wish that my party would take a   
   clear stand   
   on that," he said.   
      
   "It turns out the B.C. Conservatives want some sort of compromise solution, a   
   made-in-B.C.   
   solution, or something to that effect. And then there's a contingency of the   
   upper brass   
   of the B.C. Conservative Party that flat out just wants to actually support   
   the HST, but   
   they're not saying so publicly."   
      
   Political observers have said the B.C. Conservatives, who don't have a sitting   
   member in   
   the legislature, could become a realistic alternative in the province by   
   capitalizing on   
   the anti-HST movement.   
      
   It is the second HST defection in recent weeks.   
      
   On June 11, Liberal MLA Blair Lekstrom quit the party because of public   
   opposition to the   
   tax.   
      
   Judicial review   
   On Tuesday, a coalition of business organizations applied to the B.C. Supreme   
   Court for a   
   judicial review of the petition campaign against the tax, which merges the   
   five per cent   
   federal GST with the seven per cent provincial sales tax.   
      
   A spokesman for the coalition said the campaign is unconstitutional because   
   the HST falls   
   under federal jurisdiction.   
      
   "We decided to take this issue on ourselves, primarily because we want some   
   business   
   certainty," said John Allan of the Council of Forest Industries. "We just want   
   to know, is   
   this [petition] legal or not?"   
      
   Recall threatened next   
   Delaney said people will see the legal challenge as a ploy of the Liberal   
   government,   
   getting others to do its "dirty work."   
      
   "They have failed at every other attempt, so I guess they are getting   
   desperate and   
   scraping the bottom of the barrel," said Delaney. "In the end, they will lose."   
      
   If the petition is declared valid, the government has two options it must   
   exercise within   
   four months. It can either put the issue to a referendum or send a bill   
   repealing the HST   
   to the legislature.   
      
   If the government decides to opt for a referendum and loses, it then has no   
   choice but to   
   send the repeal bill to the legislature.   
      
   No matter which course Premier Gordon Campbell's government decides to take,   
   the bill   
   would be unlikely to pass, given the Liberal government's 13-seat majority.   
   But Delaney   
   and Vander Zalm are also working on a recall campaign, aimed at ousting as   
   many as 24   
   Liberal MLAs.   
      
   But it would be a tougher challenge than the petition.   
      
   Recall regulations require that 40 per cent of registered voters sign a   
   petition in any   
   riding where an attempt at recall is underway.   
      
   Opponents say consumers will pay more under the tax because it applies to   
   goods and   
   services that are currently exempt from provincial sales tax, including   
   haircuts, funeral   
   services, and movie and theatre tickets.   
      
   The provincial government argues the HST will reduce costs to employers,   
   savings that will   
   be passed on to consumers, and help create an estimated 113,000 jobs.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)