Vander Zalm to circumvent HST petition delay

Former premier Bill Vander Zalm says if B.C.'s chief electoral officer won't send the anti-HST petition to the legislature, he will.

Vander Zalm insists the Initiative Act gives him the power to forward the results of the petition against the harmonized sales tax.

However, legislative committee chair MLA Terry Lake disagrees, saying Vander Zalm should know the process must be respected.

Lake said he won't touch the petition until it is officially forwarded by Elections BC — something that's unlikely to happen until after the courts deal with a business group's challenge of the petition's validity.

The HST, which blends the seven per cent provincial sales tax with the five per cent federal goods and services tax, came into effect July 1.

The petition opposing the HST's introduction in B.C. was verified Wednesday, which means it met the threshold of 10 per cent of voters' signatures from each of the province's 85 ridings.

But chief electoral officer Craig James said in a letter to Vander Zalm that a business coalition's challenge of the petition campaign must be dealt with in B.C. Supreme Court before the petition result can be addressed.

Court delay

If the court rules the petition is constitutionally valid, the legislative committee would have to decide whether to send a bill to the legislature withdrawing the HST or to put the issue to a province-wide referendum.

The court hearing is scheduled for the week of Aug. 16. Whatever the court decides, appeals of that decision could take years and leave the petition in limbo, anti-HST campaign organizers suggested Wednesday.

Opponents argue British Columbians will pay more under the tax because it applies to many items that were previously exempt from the provincial sales tax.

Vander Zalm has said Fight HST members are already planning to put the heat on Liberal MLAs by recalling them if they don't repeal the tax.

MLA Blair Lekstrom left the governing Liberal Party in June, supporting public opposition to the tax.