by Jim Sawchuk Maybe Nicholas Simons, MLA for Powell River-Sunshine Coast, should start earning his money.
First, he states that the BC Liberal Party misled BC taxpayers in the last provincial election over the HST. What? Darrell Dexter, premier of Nova Scotia, and the provincial New Democratic Party (NDP) made a campaign promise that if they were elected government there would be zero tax increases. What happens? The taxpayers elected an NDP government and the NDP raised the HST from 13 per cent to 15 per cent, making it the highest HST in all of Canada. I believe the NDP misled the taxpayers in the election campaign.
Simons says that Adrian Dix will be the next premier of BC. How so? Saskatchewan is having a provincial election later this year and the polls show that the Saskatchewan Party, present government of today, has a 37-point lead over the opposition NDP. Manitoba is also having a provincial election later this year, and the polls show that taxpayers are 54 per cent in favour of voting in the Progressive Conservative Party as their new government, putting the present NDP government into the opposition seats. Also the NDP government in Nova Scotia elected in 2009, has a very poor to date report card from the taxpayers. Polls indicate that it will be a one-term government like that of Dave Barrett in BC.
Simons uses the phrase “big business.” What Simons forgets is that big business pays the BC taxpayers every two weeks with paycheques, and not the NDP or Jim Sinclair and the BC Federation of Labour.
Simons is protesting for the return of PST/GST to BC. Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and BC all have HST. BC has the lowest rate and Nova Scotia the highest rate. Quebec is following and its change to HST is expected to be finalized in September, 2011. That is a total of 25 million taxpayers paying HST, with no public outcry except in BC where taxpayers run to the streets protesting like a third-world nation with the rest of Canada laughing at them.
Bill Vander Zalm’s protest petition of 557,383 signatures (confirmed total by Elections BC), not 700,000 as the others were disqualified, is no match to the number of taxpayers that have to pay HST. It shows that HST is the way to go.
When marking the HST ballot, there are two items to think about. 1. All governments are going to collect taxes in one form, shape, or another. 2. Competitive. That is why provinces above adopted the HST.
In summary, Simons, the above shows that HST should stay in BC and that the NDP party should remain as the official opposition in BC after the next provincial election. There is fact and fiction in BC. The fact is the Liberals and 25 million taxpayers paying the HST, and fiction is the NDP, Vander Zalm and Sinclair.
Joe Sawchuk is a resident of Duncan, BC.
