VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - The Campbell government is once again having to defend its stand on the HST. Finance Minister Colin Hansen says ministry staff were acting on their own when they looked into switching to the harmonized sales tax.
This, after government documents show B.C. bureaucrats were contemplating the HST long before the Liberal government called an election, during which the party maintained they had no intention to bring up the tax. The papers, obtained by the media, show Finance Minister Colin Hansen was briefed well before the May election about the tax.
Hansen says that isn't evidence his government was considering adopting the new tax before the vote. "From time to time, the subject had come up in discussions with ministry staff, usually in the context of budget... when they would say, you know -- does the province want to look at whether this provincial government wants an HST. And my answer, and I am sure the same would be true of Gary Collins and Carole Taylor, that answer was no."
The documents also refer to a September 2008 study from the CD Howe Institute, which concluded the harmonized sales tax would hurt GDP and unemployment in the short term.
Hansen says he only changed his mind after getting new information in May of last year. However, NDP Leader Carole James says she doesn't believe Hansen. "I don't think it's plausible at all. I don't think anything is plausible when it comes to the B.C. Liberals. I don't think the public can believe anything from this government. Since the whole HST mess started, they've tried to avoid telling the truth...Well, it's very clear it was on their radar."
Hansen insists staff were looking at the HST as far back as the 1990s. He says bureaucrats don't wait for instructions from Ministers to do their job, and Finance Ministry staff were just doing their jobs when it comes to tax policy.
Chris Delaney with the "Fight the HST" campaign says he doesn't buy the Minister's argument. "They weren't contemplating it, they weren't thinking about it ...well clearly they obviously were. And the fact that the Finance Minster claims he didn't know about things. Well, that does not wash either because he has to know about them as a Finance Minster. So that either proves his utter incompetence or his duplicity either way."
Delaney feels the Premier and Hansen need to resign because the information shows the government has no credibility.
To have a look at the documents, go here.