| Commentary |
| As a candidate for leadership of the BC Conservative Party, I can readily see how problems could arise for the party's overall success if the matter of the party’s position on the HST matter cannot be properly explained. |
| Indeed, the first reason the party provides as against the HST (post investigation) is predicated on 'too many previously PST exempt products and services becoming HST taxable'. This is not a position which is against the HST—in fact it links the party by inference to it. The BC Conservatives political problem is that the HST is not just hated as a tax, but particularly hated because of the way Campbell went about it--deceiving BC voters. This creates a situation where you are either for it or against it with the vast majority of the public against it. If you are for it--in any way--than you are for it de facto in Campbell's way--you can't build a 'new' party on that kind of foundation. |
| Had the BC Conservatives (during the most recent provincial general election) investigated the HST and taken a clear position against the tax--they would look like complete heroes now. This raises the next question : if the BC Conservative party had the sense to discuss the HST during the election--when history shows it was not a topical discussion--why didn't they step up and ask Campbell if he was going to Harmonize the Tax? It's confusing and because it is so--the fate of the party is murkier when blue sky should be the new horizon for the party. |
| The problem politically now is that anyone in the BC Conservative party with any type of authority or title that they 'utilized' during the recent May election--is stuck under this quasi HST political position and will lack any serious authority to speak to the matter. |
| Chris Delaney, Bill Vander Zalm's long-time political ally, and considered by many to be a potential BC Conservative leadership candidate--was I believe Deputy Leader of the BC Conservatives--and was at least a candidate under Wilf Hanni--the former leader of the party who has a decades history of involvement in the oil and gas industry – an industry which favours the HST. |
| Chris Delaney cannot be in two places at once as these facts would superficially (politically) suggest he is. The fact that Mr. Delaney is so obviously against the HST would demand the question of what happened-- with the party and the HST during the most recent general provincial election. Did Chris Delaney have input on the issue? Was it ever discussed with any Board member or executive?--did he have any discussions about this with Bill Vander Zalm--former BC Premier and top dog in the fight against the HST during the Writ period? |
| These are questions that will eventually be asked--as the anti-HST rhetoric comes to various levels of (very) high drama--by those who would like to see the BC Conservatives fail---better to ask them first. |
| The reality I believe is this--the natural evolution of the BC Conservative Party will initially be measured in how much attention the news media gives to the questions I have raised--relative to the matter of the HST--and to answers provided by current 'bona fides' within the party framework. |
| This could ultimately have an impact on the leadership contest initially scheduled for September 2010 (and now I believe rescheduled for the following year). |
| John Cummins, a Conservative MP from Richmond, BC voted with his government for the HST--and recently gave a speech to an audience of federal Conservatives who support BC Conservatives--and spoke at the Spring AGM in 2009. |
| John Cummins and Bill Vander Zalm are both from Delta/Richmond. They are on polar opposite sides on the HST debate--this means that Chris Delaney is against John Cummins on the HST. |
| If I were a Gordon Campbell BC Liberal supporter I know I would be asking these questions----related to the fact that the BC Conservative party position on the HST--though now ‘kind of clear’---does not seem to be historically clear—. |
| After all both Campbell and Hansen went to great lengths to downplay any conversations pre May election, relating to the HST--yet the BC Conservatives talked about it at the time, and it was not part of mainstream election dialogue--this makes it politically particular--and its fair to ask particular questions about this--for the good of the party not some individuals in it. |
| gpr |
