XPost: bc.politics, van.general, vic.general   
      
         The Canadian Press - Updated: Mon. Aug. 23 2010   
      
      
      
         HST opponents demand B.C. legislature vote   
      
      
      
         Anti-HST advocate Bill Vander Zalm is wasting no time demanding action   
   after a B.C. court   
   rejected an attempt to wipe out a 700,000 name petition against the harmonized   
   sales tax.   
      
         The former B.C. premier has sent a letter urging Premier Gordon Campbell   
   to agree to put   
   the Initiative petition to a free vote in the legislature this fall.   
      
         The Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives expects to   
   receive the petition   
   today, after a judge suggested the document be passed to the committee for   
   consideration.   
      
         Vander Zalm wants Campbell to tell the all-party group that the Liberal   
   government will   
   handle the issue during a fall legislative session, rather than put it to a   
   non-binding   
   referendum that could cost as much as $50 million.   
      
         According to Vander Zalm, 50 per cent of all registered voters in B.C.   
   must pass a   
   referendum -- twice the number he says who voted for the Liberals in the last   
   election --   
   making the vote both undemocratic and a "colossal waste of money."   
      
         He warns the premier risks recall campaigns against Liberal MLAs if the   
   initiative   
   process is delayed further.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)