BC Supreme Court Chief Justice, Robert Bauman, ruled August 20th that the Initiative petition to end the HST in British Columbia is a valid matter for the legislature, and gave the go ahead to the Chief Electoral Officer to hand over the petition and draft Bill, "The HST Extinguishment Act", to the legislative Standing Committee.
Initiative proponent, Fight HST leader and former Premier, Bill Vander Zalm, said lawyers for the business lobby tried to argue that the HST Extinguishment Act was beyond provincial authority. "They said the HST was an exclusively federal tax that could not be extinguished by the BC government once implemented. Justice Bauman's decision has essentially nullified that argument by allowing the legislature to 'undo' the HST by whatever means is necessary."
Vander Zalm explained, "The HST Extinguishment Act's purpose is to get rid of the HST by terminating the CITC Agreement that gave rise to it. We have said all along that may involve negotiations or discussions with the federal government to give effect to our intentions. Now all of that can happen."
"This decision allows for the provincial legislature to deal with the matter irrespective of whether the HST is considered a federal tax or not. We now have the means to undo the severe damage caused by both the HST, and the premier and finance minister's unilateral actions to give away BC's sovereign authority over provincial sales taxes. This is huge."
To read the complete press release and to take action go to:
http://fighthst.com/press-release-judge-rules-petiti...