Prince George Free Press August 26, 2010

MLAs tackle HST petition Sept. 8

VICTORIA – The B.C. Liberal government should accept the people's verdict quickly and make a deal with Ottawa to get out of the harmonized sales tax.

That's the message from an NDP member of the committee that has until December to decide what to with B.C.'s first successful citizen initiative.

Victoria-Swan Lake MLA Rob Fleming says the low-profile committee should not get into discussion about what to do about the costs of bringing back the provincial sales tax, such as the $1.6 billion federal transition fund that is already being spent.

"This was something that was cooked up in the political backrooms," Fleming said in an interview. "There is a legislative fix on offer thanks to the people of British Columbia, but there are going to be some things that have to be solved politically between his government and Ottawa in terms of the $1.6 billion and other things."

Asked if that means Ottawa should forgive the transition fund, Fleming said federal politicians in B.C. are also feeling the heat.

"The federal MPs, Conservatives, face the same electorate," Fleming said. "They clearly don't want to own the responsibility for introducing the HST. In fact I would suggest that, seeing how the people of B.C. have reacted, they probably want to be seen as helpful in getting this government out of a jam that they've forced upon British Columbians."

The first-ever meeting of the Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives has been set for Sept. 8, to begin dealing with the citizen petition to scrap the HST. Fleming called it a "conveyancing committee" that should restrict itself to deciding whether the petition should be debated in the legislature or put to a province-wide vote in 2011.

Finance Minister Colin Hansen declined to comment on what or when the committee should decide, but he has repeatedly warned about the notion that voters should directly decide on tax questions.

"If you did that, we wouldn't have any taxes, and we wouldn't have any government services," Hansen said in a recent radio interview. "Our job is to make sure we design a tax system that is fair, and is the most effective in not being a drag on the economy."