Danielle Smith's "disreputable end"

Ezra Levant on Wild Rose defector Danielle Smith's defeat:



Update: More from Andrew Coyne.

The great carbon tax grab and BC's bogus green claims

Terence Corcoran:

Just as consumers start getting used to the idea of lower gasoline prices, putting billions of dollars in their pockets for spending on other things, politicians are conspiring to grab it back ... a long list of economists and celebrity policy wonks eager to provide support... Preston “Don’t call it a tax” Manning, The Globe and Mail’s editorial board, assorted think tanks ... Obama advisor Lawrence Summers ... Glen Hodgson, chief economist at the Conference Board of Canada ...

... The carbon tax issue is no small policy shift. This is big statism in a green cloak, filled with policy inconsistencies, economic nonsense and out-of-control rationalizations.

... Carbon taxes are piled on green taxes piled on congestion taxes on top of regulations and other direct interventions. ... Worse, none of these taxes will do anything to improve the environment or curb carbon emissions...

Far left radical Saul Alinsky once wrote "never let a good crisis go to waste". Obama's far left fixer, Rahm Emanuel famously repeated it.   So, now, with a "crisis" in falling oil prices, opportunistic political weasels and wonks of all stripes are rationalizing a tax they hope can be imposed with minimal objection.  And once imposed it'll stay there after oil prices rise again. It's time for tax payers to show up en-mass on all their doorsteps carrying tar, feathers, torches and pitch-forks.

The B.C. carbon tax: Gordon Campbell's Liberals imposed a carbon tax in 2008 and have long held it up as a glowing success in  lowering BC's carbon footprint.  Terence Corcoran puts the lie to that load of junk economics:

... B.C. gasoline consumption is actually higher today than it was in 2008, both in absolute and per capita numbers. B.C. is therefore today producing more carbon emissions than it was the day the carbon tax was introduced.... Economics 101 is still the law, and the B.C. case for a carbon tax does not exist.

Major networks collude in attempt to limit free speech

Brian Lilley provides all we need to know about the latest Media Party attempt to
a) smear the Harper government
b) protect its candidate, Justin Trudeau, and
c) limit free speech





Hmmm, to me this smells like illegal collusion by the Media Party network weasels. (Update: Apparently it does to others, too. See BC Blue.)

Here's Brian's column on the history of this dating back to 1988 when the Liberals took the opposite position:

In November 1988, the Liberal Party of Canada went to court to force CBC and CTV to carry their attack ads against Brian Mulroney and his Progressive Conservatives.

... The networks claimed they owned the video footage in question and said the Liberal party’s use of it infringed on their copyright. The networks lost and were forced to run the ads; they were also turned down on appeal by the Supreme Court.

So now the networks are trying to pull the same bullcrap, this time supported by the Liberals?  Outrageous! 

My only question is, if the SCOC has already ruled on this, what do the Conservatives want to change? PM Harper and others have already stated that the Copyright law, as is, is sufficient.

Speaking of outrageous, here's that twit, Don Martin, accusing the Conservatives of "flirting with fascism".

More here and here.

Playing with fire - major Canadian banks back environmental extremists.

Peter Foster: "Look who’s demonizing Canadian oil"

 Next month, in Montreal, an organization called the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition, CYCC , is set to hold a “convergence” on pressuring institutions such as pension funds and university endowments to ditch their shares in Canadian oil and gas companies.

... the CYCC isn’t some Quixotic group of young idealists. Its divestment thrust is the offshoot of an international campaign — backed by big U.S. foundations ... part of the same movement that recently saw the Rockefeller Brothers Fund declare its intention to sell its fossil fuel interests.

Bizarrely, one of the most prominent Canadian agitators is Thomas Van Dyck, a senior executive in the Wealth Management division of the Royal Bank of Canada. CYCC has also been supported by TD Bank.

... Divest/Invest was inspired by American Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, which CYCC acknowledges as its partner in the “Fossil Free Canada” initiative. 

... In January of this year, Ellen Dorsey, executive director of the Washington-based Wallace Global Fund – a major backer of radical environmental groups — launched Divest-Invest Philanthropy ...

I put in a call to RBC asking how one of their senior employees could so vigorously attack their clients. In an email, the bank responded that “Tom’s stated views are his own,”

Look, I know that these greedy weasel banks are playing both ends against the middle to make a buck but they are playing with a fire that could get out of control and seriously damage the entire economy.  Then where would their profits be?  And our standard of living? 

RBC's email response to Foster ( “Tom’s [Van Dyck's] stated views are his own”) was disingenuous to say the least.  In Moyers' interview with radical "divest leaders" Van Dyck and Dorsey Van Dyck is identified explicitly as a Senior VP with RBC wealth management and RBC's own web page touts his environmental activism and his eco-extremist connections:

"Van Dyck is the founder of As You Sow*, a shareholder advocacy foundation, and is active with environmental groups, including Rainforest Action Network, Baykeeper, Bioneers and Earth Rights International."

RBC is fully aware of Van Dyck's extreme views, connections and objectives which include the destruction of the fossil fuel industry.  It is easy to conclude that RBC is more than proud to have him on "the team".  And by employing Van Dyck in a senior wealth management role RBC has put him in a strong position to promote and advance his radical, economy destroying agenda.  RBC has implicitly endorsed that agenda.

If I were a major oil industry client of RBC I would be calling for Van Dyck's  head to roll, and failing that divesting myself of any business relationship with RBC.


FYC, Bill Moyers' interview with Thomas Van Dyck and Ellen Dorsey:

Google - sanctimonious, hypocritical, rent-seeking BIRD KILLER

In the Wall Street Journal, headlined "Google Kills Birds":

Our headline has the virtue of being true—as we will explain—unlike Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt's assertion this week that people who oppose government subsidies for green energy are liars. The real charlatans are businesses like Google that use climate change as a pretext for corporate welfare.

Google, whose motto is "Don't Be Evil," announced on Monday that it is quitting the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) because of the conservative outfit's putative denial of climate change.  "Everyone understands climate change is occurring," said Mr. Schmidt. "And the people who oppose it are really hurting our children and our grandchildren and making the world a much worse place. And so we should not be aligned with such people—they're just, they're just literally lying."

In fact, ALEC takes no position on the substance of climate change.  ...

 Consider Google's pledge to fund over $1.5 billion in non fossil-fuel energy. Yet Google derives most of its energy from non-renewables on the grid... It's no coincidence that Google's server in Iowa is located near one of the cheapest sources of coal-fired power in the Midwest. 

Also not a coincidence is that nearly all of Google's solar and wind farms are located in states with renewable-energy mandates, which create opportunities for politically mediated profit-making ... 

Google has invested about $600 million in California's solar plants such as the Ivanpah system in California's Mojave Desert. ... Ivanpah's "power towers"—which burn natural gas—incinerate about 28,000 birds annually.  ...

The $2.2 billion bird fryer was funded with a $1.6 billion federal loan, which Google and its business partners plan to repay by applying for a federal grant. ...

... Mr. Schmidt shouldn't disguise his company's mercenary motives behind false and trendy appeals to green political virtue.

... etc, etc, etc ...

Eric Schmidt - holier-than-thou, hypocritical, rent seeking bird killer.  No doubt about it.  It's what we might expect from any knee-jerk progressive crony capitalist.

 

Tory thinking compared with Putin's Russia

William Watson on Fin Min Flaherty's suggestion that the Tories might renege on PM Harper's income-splitting promise:

... The buzz is that the government may backtrack on its promise to introduce income-splitting once it has balanced the budget. 

... If the Tories do decide not to spend a couple of billion dollars establishing what most of their supporters do think of as fairness in the tax system, they need to come up with a better rationale than the one they’ve floated so far, which is the Liberal-technocratic one that in today’s labour market the skill shortage is so acute we mustn’t do anything that encourages skilled workers to withdraw ...

Don’t we know there’s a skill shortage (supposedly) and a productivity crisis (supposedly) and that, like our Olympic athletes, we all need to put our shoulder to the wheel for the Motherland?

Well, that may be how they do things in Putin’s Russia, where the leadership regards every Russian as one of Putin’s workers. But it’s not how we do things here. We’re not all Harper’s, or Flaherty’s, workers.

How we do things here is that we establish a fair tax system that raises the revenues we need to pay for basic services  .... And then we let people make their own decisions about the relative worth of making an extra dollar of market income versus tending to their own or their family’s needs.  In particular, we don’t have a policy that says, even implicitly, a woman’s place is in the labour market combating the skill shortage.

Strengthening families by increasing their options has been core Conservative social policy from square one. And tax policy that encourages people to raise families is one way (besides immigration) to help sustain our economic growth. It is also a step towards an effective alternative to unaffordable "progressive" programs like national universal daycare.

If Stephen Harper fails to keep his income-splitting promise it will be at the Conservatives' peril. While no serious Conservative supporter would waste his vote on any other party, many, like me, would simply withhold their vote and stop donations if betrayed on this.

Conrad Black: The Governor General is a weasel

Or words to that effect.  Conrad Black is mightily pissed at the way he was treated by the Order of Canada bureaucrats and the Governor General in particular:

... It had been obvious for two years that the honours and awards staff that administers these matters were rabid in their ambition to remove me, and I publicly referred to their ambitions in this regard as “orgasmic.” 

... I quickly realized that these prancing figurines in the governor general’s entourage who manipulate this honours system did not wish to be confused by the facts.

... I in fact resigned, but gave David Johnston the opportunity to do the right thing — not accept the advice to withdraw my honours, which he was free to do — if he wished. I correctly predicted that the bobble-headed worthies of the official snobocracy called the Advisory Board of the Order of Canada would nod the herald chancellor’s sanctimonious misinformation on to Johnston.

... Government House issued a statement that was in fact, false, as I had already resigned; presumably to inflict as much irritation and affected consequentiality as possible. (The Privy Council issue, of which I had no notice whatever, was at least consistent, and was so insultingly communicated by Johnston’s own email, and in the name of the prime minister, it was almost piquant.) [Question: Why is the GG sending email in the name of the PM?  The GG doesn't work for the PM, does he?]

... Perhaps the most eloquent of the very large number of [supportive] messages I have received was signed “Tim”: “F–k ’em.” Good thought, Tim ...

 Excellent column, Conrad!

Algerian seige - Canadian Islamists among terrorists?

Daily Telegraph:

Reports in Algeria suggested that two of the 30 kidnappers were Canadian nationals. Survivors of the siege also claimed that one of the terrorists has a "North American accent".
 
A spokesman for Canada's ... DFAIT confirmed to The Daily Telegraph that representatives from the department had been in touch with the Algerian authorities to try to establish whether Canadians were among the terrorists. ...

Reuters:

An Algerian security source had earlier told Reuters that documents found on the bodies of two militants had identified them as Canadians: "A Canadian was among the militants. He was coordinating the attack," [Algerian PM] Sellal said, ... That Canadian's name was given only as Chedad.

Meanwhile:

David Cameron criticised the BBC for describing the perpetrators of the Algeria hostage attack as “militants” instead of condemning them as “terrorists”. ...

Predictably, the CBC is similarly inclined to use weasel words, unlike the National Post.
 

Support for Christy Clark's petty provincialism

There is no doubt that Christy Clark's stand on the Northern Gateway pipeline has appeal for a lot of BC voters.  A column by Bob Plecas, a progressive BC political hack, is a good example:

... Enbridge calls for tough political policy. A fair share of $80 billion of government revenue would help feed our insatiable thirst for social programs. [Feeding an insatiable thirst is a good thing?]

... I was reminded about what Enbridge is really about when the province's child advocates recommended a $10-a-day child care program. Price tag: $1.5 billion per year. Who wouldn't favour this? [Are you kidding?]

... Clark did the right thing, and the honourable thing.... [No, just the opposite.]

Clark's politics on this amount to foolish, petty provincialism. No doubt it will appeal to a lot of BC voters but it sure isn't showing courage or leadership. Seeking to extort money from Alberta to pay for BC social programs is not "honourable" in any way. A shakedown for a supposed "good cause" is still a shakedown. Ends don't justify means.

This deplorable thinking, if accepted, opens the door to similar sorry action by other provinces. Will Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba demand a "fair share" of lumber revenues for lumber being shipped to eastern markets? Will BC retaliate by demanding its "fair share" of revenues from Saskatchewan potash being shipped through its ports? There's no end to the ill-will that would surely result. It's nuts and no way to run a country. There's a good reason it's unconstitutional.

Christy Clark is embarrassing BC. She and her anything-for-a-vote brain-trust, which I assume includes backroom fools like Bob Plecas, should be ashamed of themselves.

Global Television steals blogger's story

Global Television recently televised a news story, originally reported by Blazing Cat Fur, without credit, attribution or payment. In a note to Global, BCF asks:

... What you have engaged in amounts to theft as no credit was given for my work. Where do I send my invoice?

What do we expect from a company whose news VP, Troy Reeb, gets his spare time jollies as a kangaroo court volunteer for the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, censoring his competitors?

What unmitigated weasels!

Blazing Cat Fur outs Islamic anti-semitism in Toronto high school

For nearly a week now, Blazing Cat Fur has been busy working a story about anti-semitic material being taught in an Islamic Madrassah operating from a Toronto high school:

Note the TDSB connection - the anti-semitic East End Madrassah is run from David & Mary Thompson Collegiate.

The East End Madrasah and the Centre Madrasah are affiliated with the David Duke loving Islamonazis of CASMO the favoured Muslims of Ontario Human Rights Commissioner Barbara Hall and Dalton McGuinty's Liberal Party.

This week the National Post caught up with the story (with no credit to BCF, the petty weasels).

Update: Jonathan Kay writes a dopey piece defending the East End Madrassah.  Blazing Cat Fur responds in the comments.

Climate alarmist Andrew Weaver defends oil sands

Further to my post yesterday, here's Ezra Levant with Lorrie Goldstein:



Here's Weaver on the "tar" sands three years ago.

And CTV News had a story last night on the EU's proposed anti-oil sands legislation and Canada's threat to retaliate.  (No mention of Weaver's oil sands research in last night's broadcast but it's in this online version.)

... On Feb. 23, the EU will vote on a proposal to label crude from the oilsands as causing 22 per cent more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil ...

... Canada has fired a diplomatic shot across the bow of the European Union, warning that any move to single out oilsands crude as environmentally unfriendly will be met with retaliation.

National Post shilling for the CBC

Glen McGregor at NP:

... In an unusual move, the CBC posted a “Get the Facts” news release on its website that alleges the Quebecor chain has received more than $500-million in public grants and subsidies over the past three years.

... The public subsidies have allowed Quebecor to make profits, yet it “complains that its TVA television network ‘competes’ against Radio-Canada,” CBC claims.

... A document attached to the news release ... itemizes $61-million received through the Canadian Media Fund and $13-million that flowed through the Canadian Periodicals Fund to Quebecor magazine titles such as 7 Jours, TV Hebdo and Clin d’Oeil.

... Quebecor’s Sun papers and TV channel rail against the CBC on a nightly basis.

Sun responds:

... "We are totally astonished; flabbergasted that CBC would do this on the eve of Quebecor's CEO appearing before a parliamentary committee," said Quebecor spokesman Luc Lavoie. "It's contempt of Parliament by a creature of Parliament."

... Of the more than $500 million in "benefits" that CBC claims Quebecor has received, it cites $333 million in "savings" from a wireless spectrum auction. In 2008, the federal government set aside a certain segment of the wireless phone market for new companies in the hope of fostering competition.

... CBC also claims Quebecor's TVA television network receives millions of dollars from the Canadian Media Fund (CMF), but does not note that Videotron, also owned by Quebecor, pays more into the system than TVA takes out.

... CBC is also a beneficiary of the CMF, but does not pay into it. The monies received from that fund are on top of the annual $1.1 billion subsidy....

Now, for his next assignment, maybe McGregor can write a column detailing how much business the National Post does with the CBC. How much of that $1.1 billion subsidy is the Post raking in?

Update [via Xanthippa]: Ezra Levant on The Source today. And here on YouTube from blazingcatfur.

The BC HST is gone

Good outcome!  I don't know if the HST is an economically superior taxation system or not.  Most economists think so - but given the extremely shaky state of the global ecomomy, how far can they be trusted? 

Either way the bottom line for me was always the arrogantly dishonest way the Campbell government foisted the HST on us with no debate whatever.   We just can't have our elected representatives telling us bald-faced lies and getting away with it.  Gordon Campbell is gone and good riddance to him.  But his replacement and many other Liberal pols are not much better.  A real downside now is that the NDP will likely be elected.  We need better choices. 

Bye, bye Guzoo?

Ezra Levant had an excellent show today about Alberta government bureaucrats shutting down Guzoo, a small private Alberta zoo.  The shutdown order is based on an inspection by CAZA under contract to the AB government.  There was no hearing, no court proceedings and, according to the AB minister in charge, no possibility of appeal.  Zoo owner, Bill Gustafson, has $1.5M and over 20 years invested in a project that is being shutdown by bureaucratic fiat.  I can't say I know much about the conditions at Guzoo but this Gestapo-like behaviour by the AB government certainly isn't right.  It's one more black mark against the Stelmach regime.

Ezra did a great job of interviewing grilling CAZA National Director, Bill Peters, questioning why CAZA (which represents the big professioal, government funded zoos) didn't recuse itself from involvement because its member are competitors of private zoos and, according to Peters, are against the existence of any private zoo.  Peters nevertheless insisted on CAZA's complete objectivity in the matter.  Ya, sure!  Ezra also noted that the Calgary Zoo (a CAZA member) has in recent years had 41 exotic animals die under its 'care'. Yet it's Guzoo, whose animals are apparently well treated, that is being shut down. Peters mumbled something about CAZA having done a very extensive report on the Calgary Zoo.

Ezra asked that listeners write weasely Alberta MLA Richard Marz to protest the Guzoo shutdown order.  Will do.

Iggy weasels-in on Justin's fiasco

Michael Ignatieff adds more Lib weasel-speak to Justin Trudeau's dopey comments on certain barbaric cultural practices, saying:

"... There's no such thing as an honour killing, there's only killing and it's a crime everywhere,"

And Mark Steyn points out:

Unfortunately, in wacky Pakistan, “moderate” Jordan and many places in between, the law distinguishes between “killing” (which is a crime) and killing a woman because she’s dishonored your family (which often gets reported as a suicide or accident or, if brought to court at all, results in acquittal or desultory six-month sentences). Indeed, failing to commit an honor killing is itself a form of dishonor ...

Feds funding Palestinian hate organization

Last month Blazing Catfur posted about his efforts to chase down the skinny on Palestine House's anti-Israeli hate-mongering. Palestine House Education (PHE), Mississauga, Ont is the recipient of federal funding and BCF requested that people write to our government asking them to wise up. Here's mine today (better late than never?):

To:
Jason Kenney, Minister of CIC, minister@cic.gc.ca
James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage, Moore.J@parl.gc.ca

Subject: Federal funding of Palestine House

Dear Ministers:

According to NGO Monitor the Canadian government has spent or committed to spending approximately $4 million (2008 through 2010) in support of the activities of Palestine House Educational (PHE) of Mississauga, Ont.

According to information obtained from the RCMP through FOI (see also Part 2 and Part 3), PHE has been engaged in promoting anti-Israeli, anti-Semitic hatred.

Though Canadian taxpayer funding is, ostensibly, for immigrant "settlement and education" it is clear that PHE is engaged in activities that run counter to Canadian values and the public good. It is inappropriate for the Canadian government to fund such an organization in any way, for any purpose. If you insist on funding "settlement and training" for Palestinian immigrants, find another way to do it.

You are urged to cut off all funding for PHE and for any other organization engaged in similarly objectionable activities.

Sincerely,
　
Cc:
CIC Communications Director, Alykhan Velshi alykhan, Velshi@cic.gc.ca
MP Bob Dechert (Conservative, Mississauga-Erindale), Dechert.b@parl.gc.ca ô
Prime Minister Stephen Harper pm@pm.gc.ca

Danny Williams: '... this is my heart, it's my health and it's my choice.'

Danny ("Big Mouth") Williams makes a good point - I especially like the "it's my choice" part. But his point runs counter to what he preaches for the rest of us.

It would be great if we all had Williams' "choice" in these matters. The problem is that Williams and his political ilk go out of their way to promote a government monopoly on healthcare for the rest of us - that is, they promote universal lack of choice.

As for Williams' specific medical problem (a leaky mitral valve) he says that in Canada he "wasn't offered" the treatment he received in Florida. That sounds a little weasely. Did he ask for it? If so, what was the answer? It's likely done in Canada but for whatever reasons it wasn't as good a choice as going south where, thanks to the American system, it's readily available.

Update (Feb 24): National Post editorial today:

My heart, my health, my choice. With those six words, Danny Williams neatly summed up the case for private health care. No matter how much the Newfoundland and Labrador Premier goes on to defend Canada's state health care monopoly, the damage has been done to the case for a single-payer system. He has exposed it for what is: a charade with often tragic consequences ...

... Together with North Korea [and Cuba?], Canada is the lone holdout that denies its people choice over one of the most important aspects of their lives: their personal health and well-being.

... Mr. Williams was perfectly within his rights to opt for his superior surgery. But all Canadians should enjoy this choice -- and they shouldn't have to show their passport to get it.

HST - how can you tell when politicians are lying?

Easy - when their lips are moving and/or their keyboards are clacking.

Yesterday BC FinMin Colin Hansen posted this incredible excuse on Facebook for why the Liberals said one thing during the election "and something else now":

... the party was asked about the HST. The answer was that the party's platform, while aware of the benefits the HST offered, did not contemplate the adoption of the HST in BC.That was an honest statement and, while I did not write it, I will defend the fact that it was totally accurate.After the election, I was able to "re-engage" with Finance Ministry staff. At that time, it became obvious that some key issues had changed dramatically (including, in this context, the HST world).

... What changed everything for us was the announcement by Ontario that they would sign on to the HST system effective July 1, 2010.

The Ontario decision to go to the HST was announced as part of the Ontario budget on March 26th. So why did the BC government not pick up on it until late May as Hansen says?

"On March 26, when the Ontario budget came down, to be honest I didn't pay a lot of attention to it." [For two months through the May 12th election and beyond!?]

That’s hardly believable but if true it reflects extremely poorly on his abilities. But whatever the truth of that statement, surely Hansen’s staff fully understood the implications - and surely they briefed him. The Feds have been pushing the HST since Chrétien said he’s kill the GST. So the BC government has known for decades all of the implications of HST and would have known almost instantly what it meant for BC if Ontario were to adopt the tax.

He also claims he didn’t know the rules have changed allowing BC flexibility to set a 12% tax rate instead of 13% as for the Atlantic provinces. Also not believable.

From the story in today’s Victoria Times Colonist:

NDP finance critic Bruce Ralston said Hansen's claim that he missed Ontario's switch to HST defies belief. More likely, Ralston said, Hansen has fabricated the story to cover up the fact that the Liberals hid their tax plans during the election campaign. "It's pathetic that he's trying to resort to this tortured explanation when it's just clearly not true," Ralston said.

He said that Hansen would have been briefed on the Ontario budget and his office would have been anticipating the HST announcement for months.

As early as January, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty told Canadian Press the province would take a "long, hard look" at adopting the HST.

Later that same month, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty indicated the federal government was willing to show more flexibility in its HST negotiations with the provinces.

"The reality is they knew about it before the election," Ralston said. "They had a serious discussion about it, they planned to implement it, but they didn't want to talk about it in the election campaign, because they knew it would damage their election chances."

As today’s TC editorial sums it up:　

... It defies belief to believe the tax went from nowhere to announcement in less than 10 weeks.

... Campbell promised years ago that he would run an open, honest government. The HST is just the latest announcement to make a mockery of that promise.

The political choices in BC are abysmal: Lieberal, NDP, Green and Marijuana. That last one is looking better all the time.

HST tax grab - how we’re being screwed

One thing the BC HST pronouncement is doing is shedding some light on how we’re being screwed under the current system. A major benefit of HST touted by BCFinMin Colin Hansen is that sales tax on business inputs would be eliminated and only the HST would be collected.

Double taxing plus tax on tax. How many people knew that businesses paid sales tax at the wholesale level. GST is not charged and I’d bet most people thought that PST was a retail value added tax. So what the government is now admitting is that they have been double taxing products all along. The weasels are collecting sales tax from retailers on their wholesale purchases, then collecting sales tax again on the higher retail price of the products. And, worse, consumers are paying tax on business input taxes.

So the government thinks we should be grateful that they're implementing the HST on the grounds that they’ll stop screwing us through double taxation and tax on tax. Grateful my ass! They shouldn’t have been screwing us (and making business uncompetitive) to begin with. They were counseled not to, by Preston Manning, for one:

"The five provinces that still apply sales tax to business inputs, namely British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island, should immediately end this practice. ..."

Anyway, how will the BC tax-grabbers now make up for lost business input tax revenue? Obviously by taxing everything that wasn’t previously taxed. Some businesses will be more competitive under the new HST regime but consumers, that’s EVERYBODY, will really be screwed and then some.

Stop the HST! And stop double taxation and tax on tax!