HST and the NDP

I’m frustrated.

I try to pay attention to things that affect my world and I’m weary from the lengths I have to reach to find information that is factual. I travel extensively throughout Northern BC and I listen to satellite talk radio from a number of different sources so I feel, perhaps blindly, that I’m a little more informed than the next guy.

I was surprised by the HST announcement. How could I have missed this? I found out by tuning into a half-completed CBC radio interview with a representative from the BC small business sector. As it turns out, it’s not I wasn’t paying attention. The government decision to adopt a harmonized tax (HST) was announced quietly in a press release. How typically Campbell. No preamble. No discussion. Instead of bringing the matter up during the election campaign, it wasn’t worthy of a whisper.

When pressed on the matter, Minister of Finance Colin Hansen said the HST wasn’t on the Liberal’s radar until after the May election but his radar is broken. It must be, or maybe Hansen wasn’t paying attention when Ontario announced it’s decision to implement the HST in March. Further, the HST has been in place in Atlantic Canada since 1997. So, no, the concept isn’t new. The only thing that is new, for the Gordon Campbell Liberals at least, is the idea of raising a subject openly.

This week, former BC Deputy Premier Christie Clark commented on the matter saying that “it was quite clear that the government was going to be faced with this decision in March when Ontario adopted it [the HST], and they [the BC Liberals] never thought to mention it to the voting public. I mean, it’s just sneaky all around and I don’t think that sits well with people.” As reported in a cbc.ca story, Clark expressed that business groups had pressed for a harmonized tax for years but the idea wasn’t given any real thought until the Feds offered up $1.6 Billion in “transition” funding.  Clearly, Hansen was willing to ignore the money until a long post-election look at the BC piggy bank. Who could blame him for being seduced by the bait? With the 2010 Olympics six months away, a swelling deficit, soft ticket sales and a soft economy the money must have been impossible to ignore. Even Hansen himself has admitted that the money will come in handy to alleviate the deficit. However, I doubt that the $1.6 Billion will find it’s way there.

I’m hopeful for a day when there will be a real choice in politics beyond a slogan or name change. This week, at the federal New Democratic Party convention, the NDP considered dropping the word “New” to become the Democratic Party. Appropriate, I think, because there isn’t much “new” about the party anyway. [Incidentally, the "new" is 48 years old.] However, the name change idea fizzled. It was snagged by those concerned about the optic that the NDP was attempting to align itself with the US Democratic Party.  Then, as always, there was the French angle to consider: when “Parti démocrate”, is abbreviated as PD and pronounced in French it sounds like “pédé,” an offensive term for homosexuals that is short for “pédéraste.” The convention winds up today and the name change debate served as a distraction from what I’m hoping were more important agenda items.

The public discussion that a country has, speaks loudly for it’s people and the nation they have formed. More and more, the public voice is dampened or manipulated to suit the needs of Bay Street and Wall Street but not my street. While the HST may wind up being a good thing for our province,  the lack of information leaves me feeling that the only game in play is how to make those with already thick wallets keep more of their money.  As for the NDP and it’s silly name change. I liken it to someone who’s unskilled and unemployed and feels that the ticket to immediate employment is a well formatted resume. For me, there’s got to be more to the package than the shiny wrapping. Maybe I’m in the minority.

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Posted by oneadam on 10:30 am. Filed under Viewpoints. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry