Congratulations to the Anti-HSTers! They Carried the Will of the People
Please join me in extending heartfelt congratulations to my former 24 Hours colleague Bill Tieleman, BC Conservative leader Chris Delaney and my old boss and good friend Bill VanderZalm.
The commitment they showed in delivering the will of the people to the steps of the legislature in Victoria is one of the most awe-inspiring SUCCESSFUL citizens’ movements in the history of this country–in fact, the first of its kind in Canada.
While I did not doubt Chris Delaney’s abilities, nor Bill VanderZalm’s tenacity, it’s Tieleman who should get a significant shout out. Bill’s mother was sick and died through the campaign. I was privileged to have met her a few times and she was one of those woncderful old gals who left you with the impression that age really is just a number. Bill was extremely close to her and her death affected him, very much. So hats off to all three but particularly Tieleman. It’s not easy to say goodbye to your mother through something like this.
Now, in case some of you are thinking that the BC Liberals might have looked at the recent poll numbers and recognized that they might be in a little bit of trouble and shouldn’t be doing anything to further rock the boat, think again. The genius platoon helmed by Premier Gordon Campbell clearly went to their pals in big business and the result is a late court challenge by said group against the petitioners. Mindless, pig-headed, offensive–none of these adjectives even begins to describe such foolishness, but apparently they’re not alone.
Have a read:
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER THWARTS DEMOCRACY BY RULING THAT HISTORIC FIGHT HST CITIZENS INITIATIVE
PETITION TO END HARMONIZED SALES TAX IS VALID, BUT HE WILL NOT ACT.
Fight HST to Launch Total Recall
Vancouver – In a stunning move riddled with suspected political interference, acting Chief Electoral Officer, Craig James, today said that the Fight HST Initiative to End the Harmonized Sales Tax in BC has successfully passed the required 10% threshold in all 85 ridings – but that he has decided not to act upon the results.
As a result, Fight HST leader, Initiative proponent and former BC Premier Bill Vander Zalm announced the organization will launch a “total recall” campaign against all BC Liberal MLAs starting November 15.
According to the Initiative Act, a successful Initiative petition will result in the petition Bill being sent to a Standing Committee of the Legislature who may submit it to the Legislature for a vote, or send it back to the CEO with instructions to conduct a non-binding, province wide Initiative Vote.
But late today Craig James privately told Vander Zalm that Elections BC will not submit the successful petition to the Standing Committee until a final decision has been reached by the courts regarding a lawsuit by a big business coalition attempting to quash the petition.
Vander Zalm was furious with the decision and its implications.
“Craig James’ refusal to submit the successful petition Bill to the Standing Committee means that he has effectively destroyed the democratic process,” Vander Zalm said. “James is opening the door for any group opposed to a Citizen Initiative in future to thwart the democratic will of the people simply by launching a challenge to that petition in court.”
“It is outrageous, and reeks of political interference by the government and their friends in big business, and we are not going to allow it,” fumed Vander Zalm.
“It is clear to even a casual observer that the government will use any means to get their way, including even the process adopted by Elections BC. It is time to clean out Victoria.”
“We are going to launch a total recall of the entire BC Liberal caucus, beginning on November 15. We will stagger the recalls so that maximum pressure is brought to bear on the government. They have lost their moral authority to govern. We need a new election and a new government,” said Vander Zalm.
Vander Zalm says Recalls will be designed to drive MLAs from office by marginalizing them their own communities so that they cannot carry out their duties, and the government cannot function.
“This is the worst kind of political meddling I have ever seen in all my political days. It challenges the credibility of the Chief Electoral Officer, and that of the entire organization of Elections BC. It must be stopped. This only strengthens our resolve to restore democracy in BC. And that starts with overturning the government starting on November 15.”
Vander Zalm says his group will also look at obtaining a court order to release the results of the petition. He says a court order may be the best way to get the CEO reverse his decision and to submit the results of the draft Bill to the Legislature.
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Chief Electoral Officer Craig James is a disgrace. He should be fired immediately and a severance happily paid to the man, with a ‘Don’t Let the Door Hit Your Ass On the Way Out’ sign pasted to his back. What incredible times we are living in. There is absolutely NOT ONE legal reason for this man to be waiting to submit the petition to the responsible committee of the legislature. Not one. Instead he has chosen to turn the democratic process on its head. I told Bill VanderZalm when we spoke in early June that something like this might happen. I warned him that Gordon Campbell appeared to want to take the ship right down to the deepest, darkest depths–along to where his reputation sits. Bill was aghast.
But I also told him that the BC LIberal machine is based on cowardice. They don’t have the testicular fortitude to allow the anti-HST bill to go to the legislature and vote it down. Plus, I know of at least FOUR MLAs from the govt side, who would likely vote against it. So they would likely find a way to extend the anger of the people of BC, but as long as they were not forced into making a decision, they wouldn’t care.
I’m a prophet, did you know?
The BC LIberals will now rely on their pals in business to tie this whole thing up in a legal waste pit for as long as necessary–the process could take years. And the notion that the HST hasn’t affected anyone that badly is UTTER, CONTEMPTIBLE HOGWASH.
Maryanna and I take the kids to the lake every summer and stay at one of two resorts. This year for the full two weeks we were there, the place was half empty. The restaurants we frequent when there: Dead. And the HST caused a significant jump in our budget. Even our friends at Earl’s in Penticton felt. As did our pals at the Milestones and the Keg in Kelowna. The lack of business and lesser amount of visitors was stunning.
The BC Liberals are cowards. They should vote on this citizen-demanded and inspired bill. They’re the govt, they’re OUR govt. That’s why they’re there.
And if you think I’m alone in feeling this way, here’s a great column by The Province’s Mike Smyth, saying the same things. You can read Mike’s superb piece, here.
All this legal effort will serve to do is further piss off the over 700,000 people that signed the petition and expand the chance that a recall campaign might eventually succeed in bringing sown the govt.
There would only be two reasons this might not come to pass:
1) Chief Electoral Officer Craig James is tainted by this scandal. You can’t trust him anymore.
2) Carole James. Gawd, her performance on two news casts last night (Global and CBC) was of a school marm scolding her children. I love Carole to bits, she’s wonderful on a personal level, but if this is the ‘fire and brimstone’ she thinks is requisite in leading her party’s objections to the shameful subversion of democracy by the BC Liberal govt, then she might as well hand off to Moe Sihota, since that appears to be one of the many plans the opposition has up it’s sleeve.
Honestly, I weep for this province…
Gordon Campbell is the most despicable Premier in the history of B.C.
Extending deep and heartfelt sympathy for you and your family, Bill Tieleman.
Congratulations Bill Tieleman, BC Conservative leader Chris Delaney and Bill VanderZalm. Well done.
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I could never understand Mr. Vander Zalm’s opposition to the HST. As far as I know, cash payoffs from Taiwanese billionaires remain tax-exempt.
Which one of the anti-HST campaign leaders is not getting a pension from the taxpayers of BC? Attempts to gain political advantage by promising to lower taxes is what is despicable. It is the clearest possible expression of the contempt in which the political classes hold the electorate. That was the lie that brought us the neocon economic disasters of the Bush years.
Taxes are only going to go up no matter who is in office, chiefly due to the enormous debt created by Conservative deficit budgets. The debt must be paid, mostly to Chinese and Persian Gulf bondholders. There are only two ways to do this : higher taxes and lower government spending (on things like pensions, wages, health care, and on and on). Just ask the Greeks, the Spanish, the Roumanians, the Italians or the French..
So who’s really despicable, those who act to bring a measure of sanity to tax policy, or those who try to manipulate the public by promising policies we know will fail if they are ever implemented? Responsible legislative leadership or crass opportunism?
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Landlord:
Not too long ago I approved an offensive comment you made on one of my CF-18/Gregor Robertson controversy posts about how they are killing machines etc. I didn’t respond. I like your perspectives, most of the time and you’re a fairly reasonable guy.
But this comment you’ve made today exceeds the absurd, bordering on lunacy.
1) Bill VanderZalm DID NOT accept a cash payoff from anyone, ever. This was proven out in court by the now deceased Peter Butler, who defended Bill against those charges. Tan Yu gave Bill $20,000 in cash to bribe him into selling BILL’S $16 million property???????? You have obviously never done a transaction of that size. I’ve closed several. Life doesn’t work like that for legitimate business people and Bill, I would argue very strongly, for whatever else you might think of him, is as honest as the day is long. He’s too much of a choir boy to even think of such an arrangement. That’s why we all laughed when the media were going hell bent for leather. But when the story came out in court, did Baldrey or Mason provide the details? Of course not. To his credit, Vaughn did…but you keep spreading the BS.
2) Chris Delaney is not receiving a pension from BC taxpayers. Neither is Bill Tieleman. Bill VanderZalm would as he was an MLA and Premier.
3) I am soooooooo sick and tired of the neo-con lather that it just defies logic. Pay attention: Putting up this govt with the NDP and striking a comparison, even if you skew the stats as the Tyee’s Will McMartin recently, shamefully did, shows little difference between the NDP under Harcourt/Clark and the Liberals under Campbell/Hansen. Mind, if you you fairly weigh the records, the province did not fare as well under the NDP, and they benefitted form a robust world economy–a key factor in their “success”.
4) The lie you are perpetrating about taxes needing to go up is ridiculous. There is so much fat to trim from the govt budget. But no one takes the time to do it. It’s requires political courage. The NPd didn’t do it either. The last ones to do so were the Bennett Jnr. Socreds.
5) Using the Greeks, Spaniards and Romanians as examples doesn’t even make sense. They have all used a blended system of market and command economies. We don’t. As for the Italians and the French, they are so intertwined with the US, as we are, but they didn’t put in the safeguards we’ve had for decades. They are not as CONSERVATIVE as we are. Michael Wilson, Don Mazankowski, Paul Martin, Jim Flaherty, are all economic CONSERVATIVES. That’s why we’re fairing better.
If you are referring to the HST as a “measure of sanity to tax policy” then you really don’t understand what has happened over the last twenty years, locally, provincially, federally or internationally.
I lived them. I know what it’s like to want to grow a business and have the govt implement the wrong measures in the name of “and justice for all.” Obama is now spending $20 BILLION a month. The bullshit doesn’t mostly come from conservatives…neo or paleo…
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Do I really have to quote from the report of Conflict-of-Interest Commissioner Ted Hughes, Q.C.?
Tan Yu sat there in his bathrobe while the sack of cash was brought up from the hotel’s safe. Faye Leung’s husband Dean, after asking if Tan Yu wanted a receipt (he didn’t. Excuse me while I roll on the floor laughing for a minute) proceeded to count out the currency, just to show that everybody trusted everybody. In his testimony, Mr. Leung stated “Table too small”.
In the end Mr. Vander Zalm snuck off in the middle of the night to hide the cash in his safe at home. He was apparently unaware that Mrs. Leung had been taping everything, because they were all such trustworthy people, doing a bit of perfectly ordinary business, nothing illegal, all Premiers drive around at night with bags of cash in the trunk from time to time.
No laws were broken, therefore I resign.
Inflammatory rhetoric from a man who has run for every party that ever existed except the NDP, though it looks like that’s changed (“destroyed the democratic process” [this from the guy who finished off Social Credit], “clean out Victoria”, “they’ve lost their moral authourity to govern” (that’s rich, considering the source), “overturn the government”). The guy whose leadership created the biggest political train-wreck in the province’s history (until Glen Clark came along).
Too bad so few of the supposed 700,000 signatories could attend the press conference. Looked like more reporters than peasants with torches and pitchforks.
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Landlord:
I’m thinking anyone acquainted with the facts is beyond helping you.
It was IN TRIAL, that we discovered the monies sitting in the safe at Fantasy Gardens. It was never used for ANYTHING. Tan Yu had it in his pocket and gave it to Bill for safe keeping. Was Bill wrong to have accepted it at that moment, absolutely. But it wasn’t a bribe as you have foolishly suggested. I was there and know exactly the mistake made, but when I spoke to Peter Butler, at his request, I only confirmed what he had already heard from others. Through trial Faye Leung looked as ridiculous as one of her hats. V=Bill’s problem was never a broken moral compass. It was a self-shattered political barometer.
You don’t like Bill, too bad. Your original suggestion was defamatory and not representative of the truth of the matter. Continue to spew venom elsewhere about the cash. Stick to the topic pls. This post was about the HST.
Pls stay on topic.
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In the whole scheme of things The Zalms indiscretions are negligible and his contributions to BC more than make up for it – at the end of the day he invested in BC and in British Columbians. Gordon Campbell simply has no loyalties – he’ll sell off our assets and our jobs practically for free and call himself brilliant for doing so. There is no comparison to any other leader in the history of BC that I know of.
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Great post Alex , landlord i must say you feed the anti -liberal side more ammo than they would now need it surely does not help your cause .
Recall is whats left and lets see if the Libs try and shut that down with dirty tricks what would happen next .
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Intriguing to think of what we have left to face regarding the HST battle.
On this matter, voters will have long memories.
Mike Smyth, on ‘NW this am, had the DM who wrote the bloody rules on this type of initiative. He said that the Chief Electoral Officer was WRONG in using the pending court cases as a dodge.
As for the Liberal business supporters who are trying to tie this up in court, a pox on all your businesses (gee, you actually get credits for HST tax writedowns, dontcha?)
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You said it, pal.
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We went to Long Beach and Tofino recently and we practically had the place to ourselves. Granted this also has been due to the economic trouble down south but informally asking the restaurant owners they say both local and tourist patronage is way down.
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I’m telling you the province is hurting big time, thx to Gordon’s insanity.
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Constitution Act , section 39.
What’s brilliant about Mike de Jong’s and Colin Hansen’s gambit is that Mr. James will still have a permanent job at the Legislature to do the Liberal’s bidding. He is a permanent officer, and unlike any other public servant or judge in the country, he remains so for LIFE. There is no formal mechanism to fire him: I believe that for that to happen, it requires unaminous consent of the House. However, you’d have to look at the Mother Parliament for precident.
The sad thing is that the only one on the NDP who saw this problem at the outset was Leonard Krog. As much as you may want to bash him, he is a sharp as a tack and should be leader of the NDP.
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One other thing: Mr. James is normally the committee clerk to which the HST petition is forwarded. Fancy that!
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I refer you to that gem of political discourse “The Dutchman’s Folly : The Wit & Wisdom of Bill Vander Zalm”, edited by Rita Johnson and Garth McCracey, published by Surrey’s Wipeout Press in 1992.
It’s a quick read, only the two chapters. Chapter 2, the Wisdom, is a series of blank pages. Chapter 1, the Wit, is also made up of blank pages, but they’re all half-pages.
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Noted and appreciated.
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What was the point of that? Why would anyone continue to make fun of the only Premier (that I’m aware of) that actually mandated the lowering of beer prices to help make it “more affordable for the working man”? Maybe landlord is still bitter that Bill didn’t extend his generosity towards Baby Duck tipplers. Haha, remember that shit?
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At this rate, Gordie Campbell will be the Brian Mulroney of the BC Libranos, the man who lead them into the trashcan of history. Looks good on all of them.
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Funny how real estate sales absolutely plunged last month. Even funnier how many of Gordo’s mainstream media enablers mentioned all manner of explanation except the obvious one–the HST which kicked in July 1.
Good boys and girls that they are, the Campbell media cheerleaders are swallowing the “acting” chief electoral officer’s decision. As is so often the case with the BC Liberals, nothing important can ever be discussed because “it’s before the courts.”
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You said it.
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Once again the political pundits got it wrong. I remember Baldry, Palmer, Smyth and pretty much anyone else that had access to a microphone or keyboard saying that the fighthst initiative didn’t have a hope in hell of succeeding. I assume that is why Campbell’s business masters and the government themselves failed to register as opponents. Well, Vander Zalm, Tieleman and Delaney deserve kudos for pulling it off. Getting more than 10% of the signatures in all 85 ridings is a massive accomplishment.
I can’t help but think that the business court challenge and the ruling by Craig James were orchestrated to thwart the initiative by less than honourable means. I also think that Hansen cancelled the HST mailer because of this plan.
As I see it, the BC Liberals and the business group have done nothing but thumb their noses at more than 700,000 citizens of BC. That’s not the smartest political ploy as the majority of us aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. We will get our say either through recall or the next election and through reduced spending.
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Interesting article.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/carbon-trading-system-will-have-profound-implications-for-bc-businesses/article1587406/
Looks like Campbell is gung ho on Cap and Trade and is targeting introducing it in a year an a half. Probably more harmful to business than the HST. Hopefully it will be a rumour by then if he bails.
The NDP are stuck on this as I believe they have supported Cap and Trade.
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Yes, saw it. There was nothing to else to read on the ferry other than ‘People’ so I read the Mop and Pail.
The carbon tax was a tax grab, the HST is wrong and cap and trade is lunacy. It’s more green fraud.
Believe me. Campbell will not be around long enough to make much happen.
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