Adrian Dix Steps Down (6 months to late)

[aGENT]

NO, sadly in most cases it is simple greed. And universally about businesses that had tax exempt services or goods pre hst, then just raised prices to line pockets post hst.

I kept my prices the same as pre hst, most of my competitors raised theirs

[Warhippy]

Again this is all great speculation but without evidence to back you up....

All the actual evidence I've seen is that goods would and did cost more with a return to PST due to it's myriad of inefficiencies. Why you're baffled that prices went up accordingly is beyond me.

[aGENT]

agree to disagree J.R.

I still see the difference daily. Let's leave it at that.

[ronthecivil]

agree to disagree J.R.

I still see the difference daily. Let's leave it at that.

Dix is gone, the NDP can now move ahead without him and sort this provinces messed up political landscape out. Make Liberals Liberals again and so on and so forth

[Warhippy]

Problem with the NDP is if they elect a moderate that doesn't make me want to throw up a little bit when he talks the grass roots supporters will assault that leader every time they don't capitulate to one of the public sector union demands or whichever social justice society they decide not to placate as part of a moderate platform.

If they elect a hard core union loving social activist then the province will simply not elect that leader.

It's the NPD itself that prevents capable leaders from getting elected and it's the NDP itself that allows retreads like Dix to lead the party and (hard to put in an apt yet accurate discription of just how low is ) Moe freaking Sahota as the party president.

[RUPERTKBD]

I want to know how and where my tax dollars are being spent and believe as a taxpayer and voter that I have that right, as opposed to a proverbial pat on the head and a "there there"

[aGENT]

The fact is, the HST was a far more effecient system for collecting those revenues, but British Columbians were so intent on "sending a message" to the government, they didn't know (or didn't care) that they were shooting themselves in the collective foot.

[Aladeen]

About 3 billion of "your" tax dollars are being spent (or have already been spent) to re-implement the old GST/PST system.

For that you can thank the NDP who actively campaigned against it, along with a significant percentage of the voters of British Columbia who voted against it purely because it was a Gordon Campbell/BC Liberal initiative.

BTW: Who cares if it was "revenue neutral"? Do we need additional tax revenue to pay for the things that the left is always complaining about, or not? (You know, Health Care, Education, etc.)

The fact is, the HST was a far more effecient system for collecting those revenues, but British Columbians were so intent on "sending a message" to the government, they didn't know (or didn't care) that they were shooting themselves in the collective foot.

[aGENT]

Yes the NDP campaigned against it but they were not the ones in power to have implemented it in the first place. Of course the NDP were going to jump on board with something that was generally unpopular with the voters and oppose it.

[Warhippy]

^^^ Good politicking but poor governing. Seems a good reason not to vote for them....

[aGENT]

Why?

Worked for the Libs 3 elections in a row

[Brick Tamland]

Any NDP supporters out there should realize this is a great thing.

[RUPERTKBD]

I don't believe this at all, I am not an NDPer nor would classify myself in any party. But when it came to the HST, which I voted to keep if you cared to know, was not because of the NDP campaign against it, but because of the lies surrounding it, which falls to the Libs.

Yes the NDP campaigned against it but they were not the ones in power to have implemented it in the first place. Of course the NDP were going to jump on board with something that was generally unpopular with the voters and oppose it.

The Liberals should have been up front about it all from the get go. The lies are the things that made the voters not trust the fact that they were saying it was "revenue neutral" or "better for the economy".

In my opinion, Tim Horton's was more to blame for the loss of the HST than the NDP. At every Timmy's they had signs up saying why the food prices were more expensive now than they were before.

Here we have the Liberals saying the tax would be revenue neutral, better for the economy etc etc all which may be true and then we had real world B&M restaurants, informing their patrons that the increase in costs was directly due to the new tax.

We already have some of the Highest costs of Living in Canada in this province, if the HST was really best for BC it fell to the Liberals to convince the people of why this was true, and if people didn't believe them it was the Liberals own fault. People only saw the real world effect of the Tax and weren't swallowing what the Liberals were spoon feeding them any more.

NDP just did what NDP would be expected to do, but I know damn well that if the NDP was in power they would have happily brought in the HST.

[nucklehead]

my opinion, Tim Horton's was more to blame for the loss of the HST than the NDP. At every Timmy's they had signs up saying why the food prices were more expensive now than they were before.

[Ghostsof1915]

BC has a population of 4.4 million people. Have one MLA per 100,000 people we'd have 44 people in the legislature.

Currently we have 85 people in the legislature. Cut that to 45, we kill 40 pensions we don't need to fork out. We save at least $3 million dollars just for the MLA's base salary alone (Not including plane/ferry fare, administration etc.).

Vote for me and I'll try and save BC taxpayers at least $3 million a year.

[Aladeen]

Agree to disagree on the Tim Hortons thing. My experience was that a huge percentage of the "no" side did it simply to spite the Liberals.

As far as the "lying" goes, it's another reason to put a fair share of the blame at the feet of the NDP. People believed (and apparently continue to do so) the repeated NDP mantra of how Campbell misled the province about introducing the HST.

However, for those who were around (and/or paid attention) for the original HST thread, it was pointed out several times that when originally asked if he intended to bring in the HST, Campbell responded that they were not considering it, because it would be too costly to the taxpayers of BC.

It was only after the Feds had cut a deal with Ontario to provide monies to help defray those expenses, that the idea was seriously considered. Ottawa offered BC the same deal as Ontario and the plan was changed.

Personally, I see that as a win for the province. A better system put in place and costs covered by the Federal government. Yet British Columbians couldn't be bothered to find out the truth. It was far easier to believe that they were being lied to and besides, their morning cup of Timmy's was now more expensive...