To the editor:
This is in response to Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett's remarks on page A4 of the July 27 Free Press.
Donna says she has a "real hard time" when people use "scare tactics," to turn a vote. Anyone can see just how far her government will go, using lies and scare tactics without giving proof of the numbers.
For instance, the lie about the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) creating jobs. The promised 100,000 jobs is now 24,000 over 10 years.
They said prices are going to go down. Yet we read daily that prices are going up.
As for the $3-billion hole in the budget, she uses $1.6 billion repayment to Ottawa. That is false because at least $235 million from the feds was seed money.
That isn't the taxpayers problem; it's a problem for the B.C. Liberals who have mismanaged the economy over the last 10 years. They say all our economic problems will go away if we keep the HST. I say we wouldn't have these problems if they had not introduced this money grab on the backs of the electorate.
"Barnett says the "truth" is that under a 10 per cent HST, (which will occur in 2014), the average family will save $120 annually."
In a conservative estimate, this robbery is going to cost me $1,720 per year. And you say that is reduced to $1,600; you fail to mention prices are going up and that unsubstantiated number you have will disappear next year.
"The only thing the government can do is give the facts as they know them on the books," Barnett says.
When government has been asked, their information from Freedom of Information has been heavily [edited] or the government ignores the question altogether.
The BC Federation of Labour didn't threaten you with recall. I did because you didn't respect the wishes of the voters.
"The government will keep public services in the public sector at the highest standard," she says.
Does she know how fast public services are being flushed by her government?
Gary Edwards
Deka Lake