Two major events occurred last week that have rocked the political landscape of Canada: The death of Opposition Leader Jack Layton on Monday, and now the results of the B.C. HST referendum on Friday.
Being a member of the "liberal media," I'm actually not supposed to have a real opinion on anything – I'm supposed to be objective, open-minded and non-partisan. So that's what I'm going to try and do here. We'll see how long that lasts.
Let's go chronologically, shall we? Starting with Mr. Layton.
This was a tragedy. Pure and simple. Almost like God or Allah or the Flying Spaghetti Monster was mocking him by giving him the biggest gain in his political career and then saying "Ha ha! Just kidding! Have some more cancer!" Totally a douche-y thing to do, FSM.
I wasn't Layton's biggest fan in previous elections. To me, he just didn't seem willing to step up and take a stand and say what he would actually do for this country if elected. Then, in this past election, it was like someone turned on a light switch in the man's brain – he became a politician that actually seemed to give a damn about the Canadian people. Not just attacking other parties and saying what his spin doctors told him to say. I don't know what it was, maybe the health scare of his first bout with cancer – sometimes looking down the barrel of one's own mortality can give them a kick in the pants – but whatever it was, he finally managed to oust the Liberals as the official Opposition. Who the fuck saw that coming?
I actually cheered a little for the mustachioed man, that had to be a dream come true for the NDP, and honestly it was nice to see this country's voters do something different for once.
I mean, this man actually accomplished something neither the Conservatives or Liberals could do: he practically kicked the Bloc out of Quebec and the House of Commons! I never thought I would live to see that happen, and I'm not that old.
Then, last month, we get word that he would be stepping down as NDP leader, as he was facing a second battle with cancer.
The photos I found of him on the newswire were disturbing – you could practically see his skull through his skin, he looked so emaciated. He was a very sick man, that was very obvious. But people come back from this kind of thing, especially in this day and age of medical technology.
Sadly, it wasn't meant to be for Mr. Layton. Cancer is tragic, whether it's a politician or a gas jockey. Doesn't matter your station in life, it's still tragic.
Since news of his passing got out to the general public, there have been constant outpourings of praise, accolades and near hero worship. It's funny how people's accomplishments are exalted after they die. I'm not saying he wasn't a good person, but was he the saint that people are saying? Probably not. Although this might get Stephen Harper wondering just what people would say about him if he were to suddenly pass. I know it'd be first thing on my mind.
I've also seen a bunch of signs and whatnot calling Layton "The best Prime Minister we never had." Really, Canada? Then why did you vote in a Conservative majority? Yes, you did vote in the NDP as the opposition, but realistically? I don't think Layton would have made it to Prime Minister. Now that the NDP are in their current position, if they can maintain that position for the next few elections, then, perhaps, we'll see orange banners flying on election night in the future. I'm skeptical that an NDP majority will happen in the next decade, and I like to think Layton would have wanted to retire by the time he was in his 70s.
But, hey! That's just me.
However you feel about it, Layton's passing was a pretty major blow to Canadian politics, but here's hoping his party will carry on and thrive. 'Cause quite frankly, it's about damn time.
And then there was a little lesson in democracy: The B.C. public voting to abolish the HST.
Wow. That's all I could really say.
Okay, starting way back two years ago. The B.C. Liberals said during the 2009 election that they would not be bringing a harmonized sales tax to this province. What did they do almost immediately after being elected? They said they're abolishing the PST/GST system and doing the HST.
That was their first mistake. And they knew it was a mistake. Hell, Gordon Campbell even told me and several other media outlets during a visit up here that how the Liberals rolled it out was a mistake. This was maybe a month before he resigned as premier.
Second mistake, I think, was how they explained it. They way it was essentially explained to me was that a business would pay X amount in HST, and the business would be reimbursed back to them. Or something like that. Now, if the business is going to just get that money back, why the hell are they paying it in the first place? Eliminate the middle man and just let the business keep their damn money.
Families, seniors and low-income people were also going to get some one-shot reimbursement cheque. Not me though, apparently I make too much money for that shit now. I'm thinking of framing the letter from the government telling me so, just to show how much of an adult I am.
So anyways, the HST is rolled out, and former premier Bill Vander Zalm decides to launch this massive campaign to have the HST revoked or recalled or whatever. We have a photo in our archives of when Vander Zalm was up here where it looks like he was doing the claw part of the Thriller dance. It's fucking awesome.
The Fight HST campaign clogged my inbox with press releases, and launched a petition that got enough signatures for a referendum. They also tried a recall campaign that failed miserably, since they didn't seem to realize just how difficult it is to recall an MLA. And it is. Very difficult.
This riding was overwhelmingly against the HST, having one of the highest percentages in the province for signatures on the petition. Which is totally retarded since we have the lowest voter turnout in the entire province. Go figure.
But now, after several months of campaigning on both sides, the results were finally in and people said "fuck you, elected leaders!" and have voted to abolish the tax and revert back to the PST/GST system.
While I never agreed with how the government went about rolling out the HST, I could see both sides of the HST debate. When Christy Clark took over as premier, she had herself quite the little shitstorm to deal with, but she tried to appease the populace by lowering the HST to 10% by 2014. I give her an A for effort, she really did try to appeal to the voters on this.
What I don't think people seem to understand is B.C. signed a contract with the Feds to bring in the HST. Ottawa gave the B.C. government something to the tune of $1.6 billion to implement the new tax. Well, if B.C. isn't going to do the new tax, then they can't really keep that $1.6 billion, can they? B.C. has to pay that back. All of it.
Where do you suppose that money is going to come from?
I could be completely wrong in this, but it seems to me that we've now added $1.6 billion to the provincial debt. Which, to me, does not bode well for a lot of arts, sports, culture, heritage, family and other programs that Clark has worked to bring back after Campbell cut everything.
Maybe I'm wrong in this. Maybe they'll just tax the shit out of the people and businesses, which would really be fitting, since they're the ones that voted out the HST.
I really did think people were just going to suck it up and move on with their lives after the HST came on board. Kind of like with the Carbon Tax. We just absorbed it because we really didn't have much choice up here. Plus, no one really seemed to feel like launching a massive campaign against it.
But what's done is done. We've made our bed, B.C. and now we have to fuck in it.
Wow, that was a long post. If you made it this far, congrats! You have even less of a life than I do! Haha!
Apparently I can write about something other than the fat on my ass. Who knew?
Sympathies and condolences,
Ginger.
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