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Page 20 Citizens of the year
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April 30, 2010
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As volunteer Len Johnston looked on, Peter Robertson Taylor signed a petition opposing the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) last week. A table set up inside the Ridge Meadows Seniors Society building will be there until the campaign is over.
Petition continues despite closure threat
Local organizers collect signatures to repeal the proposed harmonized sales tax. AMY STEELE asteele@mrtimes.com
C
orisa Bell is vowing to keep up the fight to defeat the widely opposed harmonized sales tax (HST) regardless of what she describes as recent provincial government tactics to “shove it down our throats.” Bell is an organizer for Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows and Mission for a provincewide anti-HST movement started by former premier Bill Vander Zalm. The grassroots campaign, Fight HST, aims to get 10 per cent of registered voters in each provincial constituency to sign a petition to repeal the legislation. On Monday the provincial government voted to force an end to debate on Bill 9 that would pave the way for the HST and is expect-
ed to pass final reading on the bill after press time Thursday evening. She said the tactic leaves her feeling “robbed of the opportunity for the people to stand up for themselves” but she’s not giving up. Bell said she doesn’t expect to be too personally affected by the HST because of her standard of living but she’s worried for low-income people. “I just feel it’s going to make life much more difficult for lower income people. I don’t think it’s fair,” she said. About 15 canvassers with badges have been collecting signatures in the three local communities and she estimates they’ve collected signatures from about about three per cent of the registered voters. “It just makes me feel more fuelled to do what I set out to do to
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say please don’t push me around,” she said of the government invoking closure on debate. The government has said Bill 9 must be passed into law by the end of April because some of the transition rules it lays out begin on May 1. As of May 1, companies need to begin charging HST instead of PST on any goods or services scheduled to be provided or delivered after July 1, when the tax officially takes effect. Bill 9 does not impose the HST, but instead repeals the provincial sales tax, repeals the provincial portion of the hotel room tax and sets out regulations to ensure a proper transition to the new tax. The HST itself has already been passed into law by the federal government. The 12 per cent HST will combine federal and provincial taxes but will
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apply to multiple goods and services that the provincial sales tax portion wasn’t formerly imposed on. There will be exemptions on the provincial sales tax portion of HST for certain goods such as gas, books, children’s sized clothing and footwear, children’s car seats and booster seats and diapers and feminine hygiene products and a $230 rebate for low-income individuals with incomes up to $20,000 and families with incomes up to $25,000. Chris Delaney, lead organizer for Fight HST, said the government’s use of closure of debate is a sign of “weakness not strength.” “People have to make a decision: do they want to live in a democracy or a dictatorship?” If the grassroots group collects enough signatures to be effec-
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tive the province would have the option of voting in the legislature on the petition or holding a referendum. Delaney said if the Liberals voted against the petition Fight HST would then move to start recalling MLAs, starting with Premier Gordon Campbell. If you oppose the HST you can sign the petition at the Maple Ridge Seniors Centre from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday or at the Meadow Vale Mall IGA in Pitt Meadows from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. this weekend. There is also an antiHST table set up at Asiatica Groceries from noon to 1 p.m. from Monday to Friday and there will be canvassers at the Silverdale Community Hall in Mission this weekend from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. With files from Canwest News Service
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