Past and present come full circle at McGregor, an Amacon project taking shape in the South Burnaby Slopes area ›› p.4
August 26, 2010
HST petition heading to legislature
Won’t you be my
neighbour?
TRICIA LESLIE
When relocating to a new neighbourhood, it’s wise for homebuyers to conduct plenty of research, and to pose lots of questions to real estate professionals, says Joan Hansen of the Joan Hansen Team. She has been selling real estate in Metro Vancouver since 1980. Martin Knowles photo
Moving to a new ’hood Leaving a beloved neighbourhood behind can be tough, but the new community may be even better TRICIA LESLIE Making the move into a new home in a different neighbourhood can be difficult. That’s why homeowners who are planning such a move should do their homework first and – as local experts will confirm – today’s
homebuyers do educate themselves before purchasing a home, thanks in large part to myriad online resources. Local homeowners Leagh and Linda Shermann did just that – they conducted plenty of research, online and in-person, and mulled long and hard before they decided to move from an old, established Langley neighbourhood to a new home in Morningstar Homes’ Saddle Creek in Cloverdale. Giving up the old home meant moving away from a house that generated countless
poignant family memories over the years, but for the Shermanns, the decision was helped along by the fact the old home would need several repairs, mainly elective, to be modernized and functional. Now, after living in their brand-new home for about six months, the Shermanns don’t regret a thing. “Buying a new home was the best thing we ever did,” says Leagh. CONTINUED ON P.2
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The petition to get rid of the Harmonized Sales Tax in B.C. is valid and should proceed to the legislature, B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Bauman ruled last Friday. The ruling was music to former premier Bill Vander Zalm’s ears. Vander Zalm, who headed the citizen’s initiative, delivered a petition bearing more than 700,000 signatures of British Columbians who oppose the HST to Victoria at the end of June. “It was very good news. We were very happy with the outcome,” Vander Zalm said of the judge’s decision, and noted Bauman “made a great deal about the democracy” of the initiative. Bauman quoted Premier Gordon Campbell’s description of the petition as a “victory for democracy” that can be dealt with Bill Vander Zalm by the legislature. It’s the first successful citizen initiative in the 20-year history of B.C.’s Recall and Initiative Act, gathering support of at least 10 per cent of registered voters in each of the province’s 85 constituencies. A group of B.C. businesses launched the court action in an attempt to stop the anti-HST petition and draft legislation that is aimed at rolling back the 12 per cent tax, which merges the federal GST with the provincial sales tax. The business coalition argued the province doesn’t have the authority to repeal a federal tax. But Bauman disagreed and said it was not necessary for the draft bill to be a perfect piece of legislation to proceed, and CONTINUED ON P.2