XPost: bc.politics, van.general, vic.general   
   From: gershwin@shawpiano.ca   
      
   This is what makes Carole James' leadership so bloody ineffectual - the major   
   Opposition   
   party is not wanting to be associated with the anti-HST recalls?  Why the hell   
   not?  British   
   Columbians are livid about this new tax, livid about the lies told to them by   
   the Campbell   
   government, and livid that their flunky in the Elections BC office is doing   
   everything he can   
   to thwart the campaign.  And the NDP are saying:  "We're not part of the   
   anti-HST recall   
   campaigns"?  WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU?   
      
   Lord, bring us an Opposition party with a leader that has some spunk and fire   
   and courage to   
   fight the BC 'liberals' on their own level - low as it is.   
   ___________________________________   
      
   The Star - December 04, 2010   
      
   B.C. NDP making libel allegations over recall radio ad: Liberals   
      
   VANCOUVER—A British Columbia cabinet minister’s attempt to fight back against   
   a mounting   
   recall campaign has prompted legal threats from the Opposition New Democrats.   
      
   At issue is a 60 second radio ad from Ida Chong, the Victoria-area cabinet   
   minister who is   
   facing a petition to recall her from office over the controversial harmonized   
   sales tax.   
      
   The ad alleges the New Democrats are “heavily involved” in the recall effort,   
   and says   
   recently leaked documents reveal party president Moe Sihota’s “secret plans”   
   for the recall   
   campaigns. While the ad doesn’t elaborate, documents leaked last month quoted   
   Sihota as   
   telling the party’s executive that New Democrats should take an active role in   
   the recall   
   campaigns as “individuals.”   
      
   The party’s lawyer sent letters to the Liberal party and to radio station CFAX   
   claiming the   
   ads are “false and defamatory” and demanding they be pulled. The letter to   
   CFAX also warns of   
   “significant damages in the courts.”   
      
   An NDP official confirmed the contents of the letters, but no one from the   
   party was   
   available to speak on the record. A spokesman for CFAX wasn’t immediately   
   available for   
   comment.   
      
   The Liberals, who distributed copies of the legal threats Friday evening,   
   fired back with a   
   letter of their own.   
      
   Liberal party lawyer Robert Anderson says in a letter to the NDP that the   
   legal threats will   
   have a “chilling effect” on free speech, and he denies the ad is defamatory.   
      
   Anderson also points to Sihota’s comments from the leaked meeting minutes.   
      
   “It is apparent that the NDP has publicly acknowledged its heavy involvement   
   in the recall   
   campaign,” writes Anderson. “In the circumstances, the NDP has publicly   
   acknowledged that the   
   words you complain of in your letter ... are true or substantially true.”   
      
   In an accompanying news release, Chong also points out that Mike Hayes, the   
   official   
   proponent of the recall campaign in Chong’s riding, is on the local NDP riding   
   association   
   and sits on the party’s provincial council.   
      
   “There’s no room for censorship and legal threats in what should be an open   
   and democratic   
   process,” Chong said in the news release.   
      
   The recall campaign is the first of what anti-HST organizers promise will be a   
   series of   
   recall campaigns that will continue until the government reverses course on   
   the tax. Under   
   provincial law, campaigners need the signatures of 40 per cent of voters from   
   the previous   
   election to force a by-election.   
      
   Colin Nielsen, one of the organizers of the recall campaign in Chong’s riding,   
   called the   
   radio ad “comical.”   
      
   “It’s like smear-type advertising that you would expect to see in American   
   elections,”   
   Nielsen said in an interview.   
      
   “Mudslinging is what I would call it, because we come from all different   
   political   
   backgrounds, and we’re everything from students to seniors. It’s silliness.”   
      
   Nielsen acknowledged there are members of the NDP involved in the recall   
   campaign, including   
   Hayes.   
   But Nielsen also pointed out that he was once a card-carrying Liberal himself.   
      
   “What it’s all about is the HST and the way it was brought in,” said Nielsen.   
      
   “If an NDP government ... turned around and said they were going to implement   
   the HST even   
   though they said they weren’t, we’d be in the same place right now.”   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)