Organizers of the Fight HST campaign have chosen a game-show theme for the next step in their battle to pressure the B.C. Liberal government to kill the Harmonized Sales Tax.
Fight HST leader Bill Vander Zalm told The Province today that he will encourage individual ridings to sign up the greatest number of volunteers so they can “vote their MLA off the island” in a recall campaign.
The campaign, called “MLA Survivor Recall – vote them off the island,” will be a weekly contest to see which ridings can sign up the most canvassers between Sept. 27 and Nov. 15.
“It’s fun,” said Vander Zalm. “It will keep people interested. It’s a competition.
“People all over the province want to recall their MLAs. We want to do this as fairly as we can,” he said.
Vander Zalm said the three ridings with the most canvassers will win the right to conduct the first recalls under the Fight HST banner.
He said 1,600 canvassers have already signed up.
Vander Zalm said the three ridings with the most canvassers at present are Donna Barnett’s (Cariboo Chilcotin), Ida Chong’s (Oak Bay Gordon Head) and Terry Lake’s (Kamloops North Thompson).
Vander Zalm said the recall campaigns will begin on Nov. 15-unless the Liberal government in Victoria agrees to holding a binding referendum this year with a question approved by both the government and Fight HST.
“If those conditions are met, we will do away with the recall,” he said.
He said Premier Gordon Campbell’s riding will not be targeted.
“I don’t believe he’ll be here next September. I think he will have resigned,” said Vander Zalm.
The Liberals have agreed to hold a binding referendum on the HST on Sept. 24, 2011.
Campbell says a simple majority of those who vote will decide the issue.
The MLA’s on Vander Zalm’s hit list are:
“¢ John Slater, Boundary-Similkameen
“¢ Donna Barnett, Cariboo Chilcotin
“¢ Terry Lake, Kamloops North
“¢ Bill Bennett, Kootenay East
“¢ Ida Chong, Oak Bay-Gordon Head
“¢ Ron Cantelon, Parksville-Qualicum
“¢ Bill Barisoff, Penticton
“¢ Norm Letnik, Kelowna-Lake Country
“¢ Ben Stewart, Kelowna-Westside
“¢ Steve Thomson, Kelowna-Mission
“¢ Eric Foster, Vernon-Monashee
“¢ John Les, Chilliwack
“¢ Don McRae, Comox Valley
“¢ John Rustad, Nechako Lakes
“¢ Colin Hansen, Vancouver-Quilchena
“¢ Jane Thornethwaite, North Vancouver-Seymour
“¢ Joan McIntyre, West Vancouver-Sea to Sky
“¢ Marc Dalton, Maple Ridge-Mission
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