Add me to the list

of working with strange bedfellows. My family has never agreed with anything out of VanderZalm's mouth when he was Premier, but we are more than happy to jump on his HST bandwagon. We have to defeat this completely regressive tax; ordinary British Columbians simply cannot afford it.

Moe, Curly, and Larry

1. Bill Vander Zalm - Yes, he's faaaaaaaaaantastic!
"The NDP should get rid of abortion clinics."

2. Carole James - Yes, she's faaaaaaaaaantastic! "But we now want to keep the carbon tax."

3. B.C. Conservative Party Deputy Leader Chris Delaney - "Yes, the HST was in our 2009 election platform!".

The three stooges at work. Knuck, knuck, knuck. What a gong show that's going to be.

BC's real political future:

"Or could Robertson perhaps lead Vision, his centre-left civic coalition, to the provincial level? Hopped up by their own internal polling showing Robertson retains high popularity in Vancouver, some of the mayor's backers even breathlessly floated that notion a few weeks ago of Vision becoming a new provincial party."

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Prospective+premiers+waiting+stage+left+stage+right/1991330/story.html

Viva La BC Visionistas!

Good luck with this, Bill

It will be a wonderful day when all the people of B.C. no matter what their political backgrounds are, if come together determined to preserve and protect this province.

It doesn't seem to matter how much BC's elected officials are paid to do the job, they're not doing it. And we all know that's suicidal.

So thanks for taking the initiative. Thanks to the Zalm too, and all the others who have come together to help.

Very best wishes.

There are many things that people will agree on.

If only they all had the same good grasp of an issue and the same facts they could agree on. It really doesn't matter what political perspective one has, some things are pretty sacred for most people. With issues like BC Hydro, jobs for BC first and resource ownership most people and most can tell when they have been conned if they have the full picture. If it wasn't for the con job done by the mainstream media, Campbell and his gang of forty thieves would have bee run out of the province long ago.

Seems to me...

Seems to me...

1. that the HST actually makes sense, but maybe cutting it to 10% (from 12%) would make it more palatable? I'd be happy to pay the extra 3% on basic groceries in return for 2% savings on my clothing and entertainment bills.

2. that the BC Liberals either lied about their HST plans pre-election (likely) or didn't think it through before hastily imposing it (dubious). Either way it is inexcusable behaviour.

3. that while I've never been a fan of Zalm, this kind of non-partisanship is sadly rare in the polarized politics of today.

Herman

"Viva La BC Visionistas!"

Too bad polling shows Gregor Robertson behind even Carole James.

That guy is going nowhere politically although it would be fun if his bosom buddy Campbell selected him as his heir.

HST folly

Yes the economists, Fraser Institute and corporate whores support the implementation of the HST. Economists tend to create their theories based on ideal circumstances. Never let reality stand in the way of a good or bad theory. The Fraser Institute has only one ideal, and that business should not be encumbered by taxes of any form and the corporate entities only subscribe to whatever will garner them the greatest bonus. All others, just suck it up and pay.

I have heard and read as much as I can about the HST an find that those that are lauding its benefits are less than convincing that it will be a boon to the citizens of BC. The proponents of its implementation have all shown the same fallacious argument. They all speak in generalities, but never give any concrete evidence that what they assert will be fact. It's always "if this and this happens then we will prosper". That is just not good enough. Our economic situation is so fragile that we cannot afford to base our future on some theories that are unproven.

Whether you agree with the policies of the people who oppose the HST is irrelevant. Sometimes certain situations demand burying the hatchet for the common good. This is one of those times.

khed67

Get with the programme. You pay no GST nor PST on basic food now. The HST will not alter that in any shape or form. However you will now pay an additional 7% tax on a great number of items that are currently PST exempt. The list is too long to list, but the bottom line is this, certain corporations will be saving $2 billion per year, and you and I will be making up the shortfall. Nothing more, nothing less.

crankypants

Sorry about the bad math, but my (poorly articulated) point remains the same: the HST would be acceptable to most people if the changes were implemented differently. If the purpose were to simplify and the net result didn't significantly increase the consumer's total shopping bill, I think there would be widespread support for combining the PST and GST.

If anything, the BC Libs have done a fantastic job of distracting the general public. People are up in arms about taxes when there are many more important issues (like power privatization, political conflicts of interest, fish farms, etc.) that go almost unnoticed by the majority of voters.

Viva La BC Visionistas

You actually want to create a third left of centre party in BC?

Are you insane or on the El Gordo's strategy team?

Seth

A dose of political reality.

Vander Zalm destroyed his Socreds and by the time the 1991 election rolled around his Zalmoid replacement, Rita Johnson, prolonged that huge political vacuum. Back then Harcourt was seen as a credible replacement for government.

Even then, that political vacuum caused the Liberals to surge to 33% and even NDP party strategists back then conceeded that if the election was held a week later Gordon Wilson would have become premier.

Flash forward to today. Gordo is detested by BC'ers, just like Vander Zalm back then and more than half of NDP voters want James dumped. James is no Harcourt.

Vision Vancouver crushed the long dominant NPA in last years municipal election. A political vacuum existed in Vancouver as it does in BC today.

Look no farther than what happened in Alberta's by-election last night - urban Calgary - for a political vacuum:

"Stelmach's nightmare now a reality - The face of Alberta politics changed Monday night. It might never look the same again."

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Stelmach+nightmare+reality/1995323/story.html

And Vision BC would crush any Lib or New Democrat in a by-election right now. Guaranteed.

Viva La BC Visionistas!

@ khed67

Not sure I agree about how 'fantastic' it is when elected representatives take their duties as citizens only as far as 'distracting' the public - but I take your point.

I also have another suggestion about what's actually most cynically likely to happen before July 1, 2010...and you can say you 'read' it here first.

Campbell will have Hansen announce a 'reduction' of the Provincial portion of the HST by, I'd wager, at least 2 points creating, according to their lights, a tax savings for consumers....the HST thereby becoming a much more 'saleable' commodity for the Public Affairs Bureau to promote.

Combined with the general ignorance of the populace and its preternatural affinity for buying the BC Liberal bullshit – it may even work.

However, count me out as one of that even more cynical coterie of commentators who sees such arrogant and disingenuous practices as somehow worthy of even faint praise.

We may, as a culture, ‘deserve’ the leaders we get; but it’s hardly something to instill any pride in the collective soul.

G West - "fantastic" Libs

I didn't say the Libs themselves were fantastic--I thought the irony was clear. I think the BC Liberals are devious free marketeers who are clear, united, and focussed on privatizing this province for the benefit of corporate interests.

This government is very skilled at manipulating voters. The uproar over HST has distracted people from more important things. Everyone at my workplace is pissed off about the HST, but they know next to nothing about the BC Rail scandal, ministerial conflicts of interest, BC Hydro, etc.

I would not be the least bit surprised if your prediction about a reduction announcement came true. The government could then trumpet their "flexibility" and responsiveness to the desires of the electorate.

They do a fantastic job of working the system.

Vander Zalm and HST

Strange bedfellows indeed. You must have forgotten that Mr. Vander Zalm is the man who gave us the Property Transfer Tax, or have you forgiven him for that. Or do you actually think that the HST is worse than the PTT? I find his hypocrisy a little hard to swallow.

@khed67

Of course.

That's why I put the inverted commas around fantastic.

Irony isn't always that apparent in the written word...I wasn't meaning to be critical of you. As you've written and as I've surmised, there are few measures so low that Campbell and his cohort will not stoop to them...

But, in the end, the additional irony of the situation isn't lost - I think - on either of us.

The problem, at bottom, becomes finding ways for citizens - who are not part of the deception nor compromised by being bought off by it - to find a way to put a stop to what must be, in the end, an immoral and unethical (not to say anti-democratic) system.

I've heard from usually reliable sources that some Latin American countries are having reasonable success re-building cooperative structures in governance.

Do you think there's any chance of something similar starting here? I'm uncomfortable letting myself succumb to pure cynicism - aren't you?

Iggy's on side

"McGuinty says Ignatieff would support HST plan

Updated: Tue Sep. 15 2009 1:40:49 PM

ctvtoronto.ca

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says he has the support of federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff to pass the Harmonized Sales Tax in the event the Grits win an election.

McGuinty broke the news to reporters at Queen's Park on Tuesday. A spokesperson for his office said that there have been several conversations with the federal opposition leader about his support for the HST plan and that his support has indeed been confirmed. "

Greed that virulent social disease

is what motivates Van der Zalm. In addition to selling more books as a result of this media BLITZ,
he is a developer with approval for 195 units in Merritt. He told the Province's Smyth on CKNW that his homes will sell for less than $400,000 and be HST exempt.

Hmmm.. with 12% added to nails, concrete, wallboard, roofing, stoves, fridges, dishwashers,
flooring, paint, lumber...you get the picture. Is he building a tent city?

This is a con man, conning again. Do leopards change their spots?

Vander Zalm may benefit

But He is well known enough and he is putting in a lot of work on the issue that no one else has done. He maybe able to challenge the HST stuff because he was once in the political ring. Who else has done anything?? Who has else has the bucks to start the project? I for one will have trouble surviving each month if the hst does go through.

Others joined in

Now we have many others who have joined in to help and these people are helping build the fight to a noticable size. Maybe there will be enough trying to stop the hst that it will not get passed.

I believe Bill T got the ball rolling

with his 100,000 Facebook responses in a few days.
Zalm took advantage of Bill's 3 weeks in Europe and made it appear it was his original idea.

trust me, we older persons in this province are totally opposed to the HST, too, and the seniors organizations across the province are not getting the message conveyed to them--6000 members in the BC Association of Seniors have received no info, Brock House seniors have received zilch, etc. etc. This is an untapped population resource. Perhaps
Bill T. will see this and do something about it.

Seth

You've got something to trumpet about nuclear, but I think you've got hold of the wrong set of facts. Those are the ones from the nuclear industry itself - and it's never a good practice to take anybody's work at face value when they've got "billyiuns and billyiuns" at stake.

Ojtariio Hydro is well known for not charging enough for its electricity. Those nukes are charging out at $0.03 a khw because they're not having to pay anything on their original capital cost. The Ontario Electriciay Financial Corporation now owns the debt on those reactors, and it hasn't paid hardly a dime of the original $35 billion capital since it was created, even though everyone is paying $0.07 on their electricty bills towards it.

So that $0.10 per kwh and they can't begin to retire the debt and cover operating costs, never mind save anything toward the expensive and not-too-distant decommissioning of these plants. Pickering only has another twenty years left in it and then it will have to be permanently laid up or demolished.

At what cost?

I wish nukes were the free, cheap, easy source, just like sex used to be. Better pray for fusion...

Fair enough

Sorry to have gotten the wrong starter on the issue, Even so they have gotten the issue out there. If not for these fellows the issue would have died The whole thing hasn't been aired on the TV news.

Monty..

Bill T and Vander Zalm are working together. And the Council of Senior Citizens' of BC are on the speakers list for Saturday in Vancouver at noon.

R/man Blowing Smoke?

Yes Skywalker, R/man is blowing smoke. Page 8 in today's Province says Ignatieff calls the HST the "Harper Sales tax".

McGuinty has back-pedalled. He states, "I indicated that Michael Ignatieff was supportive of the HST in Ontario .... In fact, there has been no formal agreement."

Seth

refers to the Energy Minister's "lack" of education well he ain't the only one in the Liberal government. I will say this about Lekstrom though, he was pleasant to work with. At the phone company. Yup, that's his experience. And he's now a high powered government minister. What a joke.

BC Liberals are Malicious

http://thepoliticalcomment.blogspot.com/

Bill VanderZalms initiative must be supported by everyone. The sooner the BC Liberals are removed from governance of BC the better. The BC Liberals have committed the graatest crime of decieving the public AND THAT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.