TAX NEWS - June 2010

BC Tax: Adrian MacNair: B.C. Liberal chooses voters over HST

Gordon Campbell is staying the course with the SS Titanic, otherwise known as the HST, despite such widespread unpopularity that the petition seeking to block  the tax has more than 620,000 signatures. That's 130,000 shy of the total number of voters who gave the Liberal Party their third consecutive majority government in May of 2009, and there's still over three weeks left to collect signatures.

But Premier Campbell has vowed not to give up on the tax, regardless of the outcome of the pending initiative. The Liberal leader recently told 1,400 people at a $350 a plate annual fundraiser that he would not back down.

"I know that right now there is one thing that people are very unhappy with, in part because supporters are telling me that.
"And they're not actually opposed to the HST, but they're not happy with how we communicated it. We have a lot of work to do there."

It's slightly reminiscent of Stephane Dion's defeat speech after the 2008 Canadian public rejected his "Green Shift" carbon tax platform, blaming "communication" problems, rather than accepting that people didn't want his great big tax grab.

Staying the course might not be the sagest advice for the Liberal Party, whose popularity continues to tumble precipitously in the polls. An Angus Reid survey released on Thursday suggests that even backing off the HST wouldn't improve the odds of the BC Liberals being replaced at the next election.

In fact, the Liberals may get tossed out long before then, if some voters have their way. Angus Reid also found that two-thirds of people living in Liberal ridings would support recalling their MLAs. 45% of people would "definitely" sign a petition to recall their MLA, with a further 17% saying they would "probably" sign it.

Under Elections BC law, a recall petition cannot begin until 18 months after the last election, which means the recall initiative for Gordon Campbell and Colin Hansen could begin in November.

It will not, however, be likely to involve newly independent MLA Blair Lekstrom. Referred to by the B.C. Conservative Party as the first rat to flee the sinking ship, the Liberal MLA said that although he supported the HST originally, he has decided that ignoring the constituents of his riding was irresponsible.

"This is not about being right or wrong; in fact, I firmly believe that government is making a decision they believe will help the province, but as we have been unable to bring the public along, I acknowledge there is a need to re-evaluate this decision," he said.

"In light of the widespread opposition to the HST, I believe it would be prudent to bring the move toward the HST to a halt and immediately engage British Columbians in a dialogue about our taxation policy."

Gordon Campbell accepted his resignation with apparent disappointment, but put on a brave face and said it wouldn't change anything about the way the government moves forward.

Mr.Lekstrom told reporters he had tried to convince his fellow executive council members to halt the introduction of the tax so the government could consult properly with British Columbians, but to no avail. He summed up his thoughts in an interview with Public Eye radio:

"No matter how good an idea you have as government, if you can't bring the public along with that idea the idea mustn't be that good. And we have made a strategic error here."