To the editor:
Personally, I am sick and tired of the "head games" the B.C. Liberals are playing on the public's minds.
"We won't sell BC Rail" ... instead we'll lease it to foreign interest for 999 years.
"We won't sell B.C Hydro" ... instead we'll create private power projects and bankrupt BC Hydro in the process.
[Former premier Gordon] Campbell said, "Read my lips" when it came to a $495-million deficit on the budget ... he failed to mention that it would be inflated by six times that much.
Now, it's the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) referendum on June 24, but really it is being moved to July 22.
On Feb. 2, Christy Clark mentioned before she won the premier’s position that she wanted to see the HST referendum take place on June 24. This was made official on March 4.
The B.C. Liberals have not made any indication the date would be anything other then June 24. That is until April 8 when an announcement from the Ministry of Attorney General's office informed everyone the date has, in effect, been changed to July 22.
Sure, the mail-in ballot will be received by June 24, but that detail has conveniently been left out since March 4.
Another beef I have is with the mail-in ballot. You won't need to show any personal identification to anyone, and that leaves the door open for "ballot manipulation."
If you get someone’s ballot mailed to you by accident, what stops you from filling it out for them?
To add insult to injury, the media has reported people who were not registered to vote in the 2009 provincial election, or have since moved and not updated their voter record, will need to specifically request an HST ballot from Elections BC.
If I remember correctly, people who were not registered to vote in the '09 election were not allowed to sign the HST petition. But now they can vote on the referendum. All of this sounds like the B.C. Liberals are trying to [manipulate] the referendum vote.
Just like they are with everything else, the B.C. Liberals are not being up front about this referendum.
Eric Freeston
Williams Lake