Anti-HST meeting attracts support from Peace residents

Photo:  Bill Vander Zalm, who was Premier of B.C. in the late 1980’s, spoke at an Anti-HST rally in Fort St. John on Sunday – Christine Rumleskie/Energeticcity.ca

 

By Christine Rumleskie

 

Former B.C. Premier Bill Vander Zalm says Fort St. John residents will help nip the controversial Harmonized Sales Tax in the bud.

An Anti-HST meeting attracted around 140 concerned Peace Region residents to the Lido Theatre on Sunday afternoon.

Vander Zalm has registered a Citizens Initiative Petition with Elections B.C., hoping to stop the HST from coming into effect on July 1st.

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The petition requires the signatures of 10% of registered voters in every riding. If successful, the petition would be submitted to a Legislative Standing Committee.

Earlier this year, North Peace MLA Pat Pimm has said the HST will benefit the Peace Region, by establishing the Northeast as a competitive jurisdiction for business. Pimm has also claimed the HST will help pull B.C. out of the ailing economy.

Arthur Hadland was at the Anti-HST meeting, as a concerned landowner. Hadland has strong ties to the agricultural industry, and he says he still doesn’t know how the HST will impact local farmers.

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Vander Zalm says the petition is the only ‘official’ document that could help stop the HST. Other petitions, he says, aren’t taken seriously by the Provincial Government.