B.C. unveils HST referendum question

The B.C. government has released a draft version of the question to be asked in the provincewide referendum on the harmonized sales tax.

The proposed question is: "Are you in favour of extinguishing the HST and reinstating the PST in conjunction with the GST — yes or no?"

The draft was delivered by B.C. chief electoral officer Craig James to Attorney General Mike de Jong Wednesday afternoon.

The wording of the question will be debated in the provincial legislature in the spring, but James will have the final say on how the question for the Sept. 24, 2011, referendum reads, de Jong said.

James said Wednesday he's willing to listen to other arguments, but thinks he has written the question correctly.

"I'm an open-minded person." he said. "I may have missed something in designing this question and if members of the legislative assembly have something new to offer that I can consider, I might incorporate it, but I would be reluctant to do so. I would have to be persuaded."

Opinions from other stakeholders varied.

Bill Tieleman, one of the key strategists of the Fight HST campaign, said the question is missing any reference to an HST refund.

"What happened to the refund question?" said Tieleman.

He said that hundreds of thousands of people signed a petition that called both for getting rid of the HST and getting a refund for the HST they had paid.

Both B.C. Finance Minister Colin Hansen and NDP finance critic Bruce Ralston said they believe the question is clear and straightforward.

An all-party legislative committee voted unanimously in September to put the tax to a provincewide vote after more than 500,000 British Columbians signed a petition to repeal the tax.

According to B.C.'s Initiatives Act, a referendum like the one on the HST is not binding on the government.

But Premier Gordon Campbell said the government would drop the unpopular tax if a simple majority votes against it in the referendum.

The furor over the introduction of the HST forced Campbell to announce his resignation last week, although he will stay on until the B.C. Liberals choose a new leader.

The government plans to spend the next year selling the public on the HST, and Hansen acknowledged the leadership race will likely factor into that debate, as potential leadership candidates carve out their own opinions on the tax.

However, Hansen said expected whoever takes over the premier's office to allow the referendum to run its course.