News Release Friday, December 2, 2011
FIGHT HST SAYS BC LIBERALS BLOWING HST EXTINGUISHMENT NEGOTIATIONS WITH OTTAWA – WILL MAKE FAILURE TO END HST AN ISSUE IN UPCOMING BC BY-ELECTIONS
Premier Clark, Finance Minister Falcon costing BC hundreds of millions with incompetence
VANCOUVER – The grassroots group Fight HST says the BC Liberal government is blowing negotiations with the federal Conservative government to end the Harmonized Sales Tax, costing BC taxpayers hundreds of millions through incompetence.
And Fight HST, which initiated and won the binding referendum to get rid of the HST, says it will make the failure to promptly end the tax an issue in two by-elections in Port Moody-Coquitlam and Chilliwack-Hope that must be called by Premier Christy Clark in the next few months.
Fight HST Leader and former Premier Bill Vander Zalm says yesterday’s clear rejection by Ottawa of BC’s request to reduce the amount the province must pay back of the $1.6 billion one-time HST “implementation” grant shows costly provincial incompetence.
“Premier Christy Clark and Finance Minister Kevin Falcon repeatedly said during the HST referendum that BC had to pay back the full $1.6 billion as a scare tactic to frighten voters into keeping the HST,” Vander Zalm said. “But Fight HST always said that repayment of the federal grant must be pro-rated to whatever length of time the HST was in place for in BC.”
“Premier Clark rejected our position then and now she is trying to get the federal Conservatives to accept that position – no wonder they’re saying no thanks,” Vander Zalm said.
“And the federal government and provincial government have both collected hundreds of millions in extra taxes thanks to the HST – why would they hurry to get rid of it?” Vander Zalm asked. “But they imposed the HST in just a few months – they could eliminate it just as quickly – and that’s what the legislation passed by the people requires.”
Fight HST Lead Organizer Chris Delaney points out that the BC Liberals have also contradicted their own negotiating position with Ottawa.
“Finance Minister Falcon said the BC Liberals wouldn’t negotiate ending the HST in public and now Premier Clark is doing exactly that, with predictably bad results,” Delaney said. “They are playing amateur hour with hundreds of millions and the BC economy at stake.”
“Consumers are paying too much on hundreds of goods and services that were never subject to a 12% HST in the past – from new homes to renovations to restaurant food to hair cuts to domestic airline tickets,” he said. “The delay in ending the HST is hurting our economy.”
Fight HST Strategist Bill Tieleman says the Minister Falcon’s claims that reinstating the Provincial Sales Tax and federal Goods and Services Tax to replace the HST will take more than 18 months is ridiculous given that the HST was imposed in less than one year.
“Voters clearly said in August with the binding referendum results that they wanted the HST gone as soon as possible – not in 18 to 24 months,” Tieleman said.
“If the government won’t live up to the direction voters gave them in the binding referendum, we will make failure to end the HST promptly an issue in upcoming by-elections in Port Moody-Coquitlam and Chilliwack-Hope,” Tieleman said.
“Let’s see if voters in those two ridings are satisfied with paying the HST for months longer than necessary and let all parties competing tell them what they will do to speed things up,” Tieleman concluded.
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