Well it’s clear that the BC Liberals (and eccentric apparently) don’t care that a majority of BC citizens don’t want the HST. Why do you think they would start respecting democracy now, when they’ve ignored it in the past?
Yes 
mind you if you voted for the conservatives you do deserve a mild fuck you.
Well the conservatives played the same game with many issues: promise one thing during election, do the complete opposite after election.
Well if that’s so clear then it should be easy to get the signatures required, right?
Yes, and it’s the reason they didn’t change their minds on the HST until after the election. Remember, the BC Liberals said no HST during the election. Had they dropped the HST bombshell during the election, they would have lost the election.
Then surely their HST will be defeated during the inevitable referendum. Let’s just agree to disagree til then.
I get the impression from reading the paper (Victoria Times-Colonist) that the gov needs to give the Feds 18 months notice AND pay back the 1.6 billion dollahs that was handed over when they agreed to implement the HST, if the required signatures are collected and a referendum is held and the HST is indeed overturned. Oh but wait, the agreement that was signed guaranteed the HST would stay in place until 2015 anyhow. So even if the Liberals wanted to kill the HST, they face a big fine and the process is in place anyhow for a minimum of 18 months or 5 years, depending on what the lawyers make of it when BC tries to back out of the contract with Ottawa.
The earliest a referendum can be held on the issue is September 2011. Add two years onto that as the soonest time we could see the HST end, if the Feds allow the 18 month notice (with or without more penalties) and it’s late 2013.
So in the long run, I’m thinking that whatever party ends up running this joint over the next few years will just keep the HST in place because the penalties might be too stiff to make it worthwhile killing.
To me this initiative has little to do with the HST. I am no economist and I can’t figure how this will help the economy nor improve jobs. I just see more taxes paid. However, I am willing to concede that I don’t understand it enough to know whether or not it is a good tax.
Having said that, I have signed the petition and whether or not it is proven that the HST is a good thing means nothing. The government said they had no intention of doing something. Days after the election they do the opposite.
For me, signing the petition has more to do with seeing grassroots democracy in action.
As Saffron pointed out, the HST never get overturned. Hopefully though we will see governments held accountable and more honesty during elections. (Fingers tightly crossed.)
That’s right - Income Tax was just a temporary war measure.
1.6 billion dollars…added to the balloning deficit…when it’s time to raise the GST to pay for this…I get to pay more taxes…YAY…EI premiums went up…offset the lowering of the gst…nice tax break…MSP premiums went up…yay…nice tax break…this HST is just the tip of the iceberg for this arrogant gov’t…let’s not forget about the BC Rail deal, the Kash Heed controversy…the lowest min. wage in the country…one of the highest rates of poverty in the country…there’s something to be proud of…transpaency…only if you have x-ray vision…the outright lie regarding the deficit not more being 400 million or there abouts? remember El Gordo’s reasoning for the huge salary increases? we need to attract and keep the best and brightest “politician’s” in BC(para-phrasing)…so to make a monumental decision about the HST as Colin Hanson did around a water cooler conversation with Flaherty is “bright”…I must be a freaking genius! Do you really think El Gordo give’s a shit? What has the North seen from these freaking OWE-lympics? Well the HST for one…more empty stores another…decreasing population…municipal tax increases another…what this FREAK makes in his pension A YEAR(on my dime)…will take me at least 4-5 years to make on salary…so just like his “mug shot” this A-Hole is grinning ear to ear…such a huge proponent of this HST? why wasn’t he there to vote on it in the legislature the other day? Your Liberal Hero folks…hope you enjoy paying for his gold plated penison
So it’s May 1st
I need to hire my bookkeeper to add HST and HST EXEMPT tax classes on my Simply
I need to bill my quarterly customers and figure out 2/3 with PST & GST, and another line for July with HST
I need to insert a mailout explaining it.
Then starting July 1st I will need 7% more capital to purchase anything to resell.
And almost $1000 a month more to cover, rent, phone, etc. every month.
They’re telling people that my prices will go down.
No, Mr. Campbell. You’re going down. In a big way. I’d tell my MLA to his face if he hadn’t scheduled his town hall meeting during the hockey game.
I’m joining the Global Marijuana March, and then I’ll blow smoke in Campbell’s face since since he’s been blowing it up my ass! :-D
Love the T-shirt where can I buy one?
Sorry dude. I just get a little messed up when people say that when voters speak to power they are somehow misguided or what they are doing is useless. It isn’t useless to challenge authority, and if that authority was so democratic, then it would have to listen to the public at large when they have made a concerted effort to speak to them.
They have already rejected the challenge to their legislation without having the Citizen’s Initiative Act formally presented to them. They are not our parents, and have no right to simply reject a piece of citizens’ legislation because it challenges their own notions.
I know that you are just taking another perspective. That’s fine. I won’t reject it off hand.
But when you say that the BC Liberals would have lost the election had they “dropped that bombshell” well, yes – yes they would have. And that is the point. They couldn’t sell it to us during an election, so they forced it upon us after they were already in power (three days later, no less).
However, they won on false pretenses, so instead it is us, the lowly taxpayer, who is left to pick up the pieces because they are not responsible for their platform, they are not responsible for their governance and are not responsible in any way (DUIs in Hawaii! – no punishment).
Carol Taylor – a very effective centrist Finance Minister – left the party. Why?
They all do! Liberals, NDP. Conservatives they all play the same games, preach a whole lotta shit, make promises, dont keep em, let us down.
I’ve found it increasingly difficult to vote, i ask myself…who will screw me the least - because really, no matter who we elect, we’ll get screwed in the end . 
As a business owner are you going to pass your ‘savings’ from hst onto your customers like gordon campbell says you will? 
what savings?? The only thing passed onto customers will be the addition of pst on supplements. So stock up before then!!
What? you mean the BC liberals lied? Never. You must be your typical sleazy businessman
This is where I am confused. The savings that a small business can pass on will be whatever little bookkeeping expense is saved through a combined tax. It will be certainly less than the addition of the PST to all the new products.
I think the savings occurs with the big corporations. The people sending the products to StackedSports are supposed to pass on savings to them which they in turn will pass on to us.
I really don’t get it. They are actually asking us to trust big corporations.
No they are asking us to be stupid… like ‘we’ were when ‘we’ voted for them… and by ‘we’ i mean the bunch of retards that voted for a BC liberal at any point in their lifetime.