Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Fight HST has needed minimum 10% of required citizens Initiative petition signatures in 83 of 85 BC ridings - with 6 weeks left to campaign!

More great news from Fight HST - 83 of 85 British Columbia ridings have now achieved the 10% legally-required minimum number of voter signatures required for the citizens Initiative to be successful!

Among those reaching the 10% minimum this weekend - the Vancouver-Point Grey riding of Premier Gordon Campbell.

And that leaves 6 weeks left to campaign before the July 5 deadline.

Perhaps more impressively, Fight HST is not even getting full reports from all ridings due to the long Victoria Day weekend and has still reached its 15% target in 57 of 85 ridings.

The 15% target is to ensure a safe margin of error for any signatures obtained from voters inadvertently in the wrong riding or not on the registered voters list at the time the petition was begun.

Here is Fight HST's news release - you can see the actual signature numbers riding by riding on Fight HST's website.

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News Release

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Fight HST petition meets 10% threshold in 83 of 85 Ridings

Point Grey and Quilchena hit 10% with 6 weeks still to go.

Port Coquitlam – Fight HST Lead Organizer, Chris Delaney, says the petition to repeal the HST has crossed the Elections BC 10% threshold in 83 of 85 ridings with over 6 weeks still to go in the campaign.

Delaney says the Fight HST internal threshold of 15% or more has been reached in 57 of 85 ridings.

“These numbers are particularly exciting, since they represent only 64 of 85 ridings reporting. Many areas of the province that had reached their targets took a break for the long weekend. We’ll finish up the remaining two ridings next weekend, and will meet both the Elections BC requirement of 10% as well as our own internal threshold of 15% in all ridings by the first or second week of June,” said Delaney.

Delaney says that the petition to repeal the HST has reached a critical mass. “There is nothing more to wait for. There is no need for a referendum, no need for more delays and wasting of taxpayers’ time and money. The petition has become a referendum. And the result of that referendum is clear. British Columbians do not want the HST.”

Fight HST leader, Bill Vander Zalm, is calling on Premier Campbell to cancel the HST now.

“What is he waiting for? The numbers are overwhelming. He is our servant, not our master, and even his number one argument that the HST is good for the economy has been refuted by the Prime Minister himself, who last week at a G8 Youth Forum said ‘You can’t tax an economy into prosperity’.”

“Cancel the HST now Mr. Campbell. The people of BC are waiting for you to act on their behalf. Failure to do so will result in you becoming the first premier in Canadian history to be fired by the people in a Recall,” said Vander Zalm.

Vander Zalm says that Recall campaigns can begin 18 months after a provincial election. That means the first Recalls in BC can be launched in November, 2010.

Vander Zalm says the timing is perfect, since the anti-HST petition will be submitted on July 5, after which Elections BC will have 42 days to check the petition. Once the petition is validated, the Legislature will reconvene in September to vote on the bill to repeal the HST.

Vander Zalm says if the BC Government votes it down or tries to play games by delaying it or going to a costly and time wasting referendum, then his organization will immediately begin Recalls in selected ridings.

“The people have drawn a line in the sand with their government, and the government seems to have drawn a line in the sand with the people. There can only be one winner in that contest if democracy is to survive in BC,” said Vander Zalm.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those are last week's numbers. Where's this weeks?

But still does not remove the HST.

Will be interesting to see the real validated numbers.

Anonymous said...

Les Leyne, Times Colonist - May 26, 2010:

NDP Leader Carole James also had a revealing moment. She said what's clear is that Liberals denied HST plans during the election then "three days after the votes were counted," started negotiating with Ottawa.

Their operating assumption for months has been that Liberals secretly plotted the HST during the campaign. But the latest scenario from the NDP seems to acknowledge the Liberal line for the past 10 months -- that the HST option erupted right after the election.

It's a small win for the Liberals.


Just wondering if all the FOI requests have been fulfilled yet - there is bound to be more information coming on the true timeline of the HST - just as there is a lack of information on who knew what when on the provincial budget over runs.