OSOYOOS TIMES-September 22, 2010
The Fight HST movement’s announcement on Sept. 20 about how it wants to kick off recall measures in the province is a step in the wrong direction for an organization that has so far done an impressive job in rallying anti-HST sentiment across the province.
To turn what will be, should it actually go ahead, a serious, groundbreaking and important process into a kind of game is the wrong tactic to use at this point in time.
Encouraging people to get involved in democratic actions such as making their opposition to the HST known and pressuring their representatives in Victoria to listen to their constituents is a good thing.
And no doubt, the eyes of the rest of the country are upon us now to see what happens in the coming months leading up to the proposed recall campaign this winter and the referendum on the harmonized sales tax scheduled for next September.
But this “Survivor”-style ploy that Fight HST leader Bill Vander Zalm and his group have come up with seems a bit silly.
The recall process should be carried out in an earnest and systematic way.
Sure, rally British Columbians to get behind the effort with the same gusto and drive shown during the anti-HST petition campaign undertaken earlier this year.
Choosing what ridings should be targeted for recalls, however, should come down to factors such as how large and consistent support for the anti-HST petition was in a particular electoral district or how many votes an MLA in that riding received in the last provincial election.
Vander Zalm has said in the past that such factors would play a role in any recall campaign and they are the right factors to use in determining where to begin pressuring the government to listen to its people.
Fight HST has consistently taken the high road in spearheading this democratic movement to make a change in this province and it would be easy for the organization to continue to do so in response to the Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives’ recent decision to send the HST debate to referendum next year.
Please Mr. Vander Zalm, if the recall campaign is necessary, make it a professional and classy endeavour, not some ill-conceived stunt.
