I have going over and over again the reasoning for the press release he issued you yesterday and I still can not make sense of why it was put out. He issued a press release based on some rumours he heard that were simply not credible. Anyone can issue a press release and allege something way out there, but it is not a smart thing to do when one is trying to move a serious issue forward.
Vander Zalm claimed to have knowledge about an announcement the premier would be making today at the UBCM about the HST, specifically that he would move the referendum date and offer to lower the HST by one point.
First of all, the 1% drop, the province can not do this and is locked into the current rate, there is no way to do this. The people putting out the press release should have known this could not happen.
Second, there are no political upsides for the government to hold an early referendum.
So why do this?
Maybe to try and get the HST into the media during UBCM?
Maybe he knew this would not happen but could now claim it only changed because of the press release?
Maybe he really believed something someone told him sarcastically?
The press release confirms what I suspected when I read the HST Exstinguishment Act proposed - the people behind the Anti-HST petition do not really understand how our government works. They may be good at organizing people on the ground, they are just not very well versed in what is possible for government or what is probable.
The more I hear Bill Vander Zalm, the more I remember why he was the worst premier BC has seen in living memory. As much as I would love to be at a dinner party with him, I have zero confidence in him when it comes to anything to do with governing.
I am not 99% convinced that we will see Bill Vander Zalm as the leader of the BC Conservatives.
1 comment:
"What was Vander Zalm thinking?"
Seems odd that you would pose that question without also asking "what was Michael Smyth thinking?"
After all, he was on the Philip Till show at 7:40 Thursday morning talking about the "red hot rumour in Victoria yesterday, racing aloing the government grapevine" that Campbell was going to reduce the HST.
"This rumour was hot as a pistol over here yesterday," Smyth said.
When asked who was behind the rumour, Smyth replied "It's everywhere yesterday. I've got it in my column today" ... usual plug for Smyth's column ... "Late last night, Bill Vander Zalm put out a press release ..."
Note the timing: the "red hot" rumour "racing along the government grape vine" during the day, the Vander Zalm press release "late last night."
You take Vander Zalm to task for issuing a press release "based on some rumours he heard that were simply not credible" yet have nothing to say about a political columnist in one of Vancouver's daily newspapers doing the same thing.
Shame.
You then go on to say "first of all, the 1% drop, the province can not do this and is locked into the current rate, there is no way to do this ... The press release confirms what I suspected when I read the HST Exstinguishment Act proposed - the people behind the Anti-HST petition do not really understand how our government works."
Yet Campbell has "promised" to eliminate the HST if a simple majority votes to do so in the referendum - something else the province can not do.
Do you think Campbell also doesn't understand "how government works?"
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