Dear Editor:
In response to the article by Joshua Estabrooks in the September 2nd edition of The Pioneer on the results of the HST referendum.
The HST referendum result is drastically short of what would have been needed to the kill the tax if former premier Gordon Campbell had not changed the threshold for success under the Recall and Initiative Act, brought in under the former provincial New Democratic Party government.
Under the initial rules, Fight HST would have needed 50 per cent of all eligible voters or about 1.5 million people to vote in favour of killing the tax, in order for the HST to be scrapped.
If the rules had been applied, the August 26th tally would have failed by more than 640,000 votes. Bill VanderZalm thanked former premier Campbell for these changes because if they were not made, there is no way the HST would have been defeated.
Adrian Dix on the other hand, has chosen not to comment on this topic as the old rules were initiated by the former NDP government.
Dalton McGuinty, premier of Ontario who also brought in the HST on July 1st, 2010, commented after the HST vote in B.C. that as Steady as she goes, HST has stabilized the Ontario economy, more new jobs this year than the rest of Canada. We have the advantage.
Joe Sawchuk
Duncan, B.C.
