HST petition succeeds, but Elections B.C. not taking next step, Bill Vander Zalm says

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      Elections B.C. has confirmed the anti-HST petition gathered enough signatures to be ruled a success.

      But the elections body is refusing to send the petition to B.C.’s select standing committee on legislative initiatives, until a legal challenge of the citizen initiative is resolved.

      Former premier Bill Vander Zalm made the announcement today (August 11) at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

      “We will not stand for this,” the Fight HST campaign leader said, according to the Globe and Mail. “They could postpone it for years and years.”

      Vander Zalm noted his campaign will start working on recalling Liberal MLAs in order to get the tax repealed.

      The petition needed the signatures of at least 10 percent of voters in each of B.C.’s 85 ridings to be successful.

      According to the Recall and Initiative Act, the select standing committee on legislative initiatives must meet within 30 days of receiving the petition from Elections B.C.

      Then the committee of MLAs has 90 days to decide whether to recommend that an anti-HST bill be introduced in the legislature, or to send the petition back to Elections B.C. for a referendum.

      If a referendum is chosen, the provincewide vote will be held on September 24, 2011.

      You can follow Stephen Hui on Twitter at twitter.com/stephenhui.

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      Comments

      7 Comments

      Jane M.

      Aug 11, 2010 at 7:22pm

      Wow, they did all that work and now it's not going anywhere? BIG SURPRISE.

      Seriously, fuck you B.C. Liberal government.

      Birdy

      Aug 11, 2010 at 7:44pm

      I wonder if the 6 big business cartels behind this stalling "challenge" to the initiative are receiving much feedback from the public:

      Western Convenience Stores Association
      http://www.conveniencestores.ca/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contac...

      Independent Contractors and Businesses Association
      http://www.icba.bc.ca/about_icba/contact_us.htm

      Council of Forest Industries
      http://www.cofi.org/about_COFI/contact_us.htm

      Mining Association of B.C.
      http://www.mining.bc.ca/contact_us.htm

      Coast Forest Products Association
      http://www.coastforest.org/contact.html

      B.C. Chamber of Commerce
      http://www.bcchamber.org/about/contact.html

      Camero409

      Aug 11, 2010 at 10:11pm

      The government lost but hope we will forget the HST. Never! On to the recall where we knew it would end up anyway. We will throw out the government. This isn't over!

      unknown sample

      Aug 11, 2010 at 11:23pm

      Recall.

      Even though I have no love of an NDP government and understand how the HST may be a "better" tax over a long term, macroeconomic level, the BC Liberals have made their disdain for democracy and the middle class readily apparent.

      Gordon Campbell may try his slimy legal manuevers using this thinly veiled business alliance front (a variant of his famous can't discuss anything as it is "before the courts" crap).

      The BC Liberals' antidemocratic leanings and contempt for the voting public can't go unpunished. They have lost my trust and confidence. They may be better fiscal managers than the NDP, but look at their track record. Early in their first mandate they ripped up previously negotiated contracts with front line health care workers (Bill 29) and now pulled an obvious bait and switch with the HST.

      Enough is enough. We have to show them the consequences of their actions.

      Procedural

      Aug 12, 2010 at 6:40am

      Two thoughts

      First, I applaud this challenge, but didn't The Zalm override a local ban on nukes in Vancouver during his day, in order to appease the Big Boys (emphasis on 'boys')

      Secondly, is this a technically legal thing Elections BC did? If so, as much as I don't like it, I have to allow for it. If the process allows for some kind of challenge - stalling, then that's just the way it is. To 'not' allow an existing rule to be applied would be wrong...

      unknown sample

      Aug 12, 2010 at 1:06pm

      "You need to educate yourself and stop spewing MSM claptrap. They are far worse economic managers than the NDP"

      You'll need to do better than that in order to counter my argument. Perhaps you should read some of the comments in the story that you linked to? Or perhaps you just select the parts that conform to your world view.

      Seth, your catty comment aside, you should consider the larger issue that we as British Columbians are (in my opinion) being disregarded by a sitting government which abrogates its responsibility to the law and democracy. Elections BC, a supposedly "non-partisan, independent Office of the Legislature" could be perceived as using legal stall tactics, which reeks of the modus operandi of the BC Liberals.

      I smell political interference.

      Although all this is just my opinion, as mentioned by a poster in the site you linked to, "history is both factual and subjective."