Former premier Bill Vander Zalm, Chris Delaney and Bill Tieleman made
the announcement on the steps of the B.C. Supreme Court on Monday
morning.

The B.C. government brought in the harmonized sales tax with an
order-in-council and brought in legislation only to repeal the old
provincial sales tax legislation, according to Vander Zalm.

‘The only place that representation and consent of the people can be
expressed is in the legislature.’
— Joe Arvay, lawyerWell-known lawyer Joe Arvay, who will be representing
the Fight HST challenge in court, said the government can’t introduce a
new tax without the consent of the people.

“The only place that representation and consent of the people can be
expressed is in the legislature,” Arvay said. “This tax was imposed by
executive fiat. It was not imposed by the legislature and that’s the
reason it’s unconstitutional.”

Over the past two months, Vander Zalm and his group collected more than
700,000 signatures on a petition calling for the repeal of the 12 per
cent HST.

But last week, a coalition of businesses applied to the B.C. Supreme
Court for a judicial review of the petition, arguing that the effort to
repeal the tax under provincial initiative vote legislation should be
dismissed because the new tax was created by a federal law.

Vander Zalm said he was launching the new constitutional challenge as a
counter-strike to what he called “their undemocratic attempt to kill the
people’s petition.”

Initiative tangle
Under B.C.’s initiative vote legislation, unique in Canada, if the
petition is declared valid in court the government has two options it
must exercise within four months. It can either send a bill drafted by
Vander Zalm to the legislature or it can hold a provincewide referendum.

If the government holds a referendum and the initiative challenge gets
the support of more than 50 per cent of all registered voters — a
challenging proposition — the government will have to send the bill to
the legislature.

Former B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm announces plans to launch a
constitutional challenge of the province’s new HST on Monday in
Vancouver. (CBC)
In either case, an anti-HST bill would be unlikely to pass in the
legislature, given the 13-seat majority held by Premier Gordon
Campbell’s Liberal government.

But Vander Zalm and his team say they will use the province’s recall
legislation to target legislature members to get the government to
change its stance on the HST, which took effect July 1.

Opponents say consumers will pay more under the tax because it applies
to goods and services that had been exempt from provincial sales tax,
including haircuts, funeral services and movie and theatre tickets.

The provincial government argues the HST will reduce costs to employers,
savings that will be passed on to consumers, and help create an
estimated 113,000 jobs.

Read more:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/07/05/bc-fight-hst-court-announcement.html#ixzz0sr0Z58cC

Buy a

Newspaper
Certain School Supplies
Magazines
Energy Star Windows
Thermal Insulation, Weather Stripping, Caulking
First Aid Kits
Residential Smoke Detectors less than $250
Food Producing Plants & Trees (strawberry plants, peach tree etc)
Adult Sized Clothing for Children
Shoe Repair
Tailoring services
Dry Cleaning
Used adult clothing less than $100
Snack food
Restaurant Meals
Alcoholic Beverages
Catering & Event Planning
Basic Cable
Residential Phone
Repairs to Household Appliances
Repairs, Maintenance & Renovation
Landscaping, Lawn Care, Private Snow Removal & House Cleaning
Computer Software Repair Services
Taxis
Camp Sites
Domestic Air, Rail or Bus Travel Originating in BC
Motor Vehicle Parking
Real Estate Commissions
Massage Therapy
Over the Counter Medications
Vitamins
Admission to Professional Sporting Events
Movie Tickets
Safety Helmets for Sports
Golf Memberships
Driving Range Fees
Gym & Athletic Memberships
Ballet, Karate, Hockey, Soccer Lessons
Tickets for Life Theatre
Bicycles
Admission to Museums & Art Galleries
Music Concerts
Ski Life passes
Adult Sized Ski Gloves & Boots for Children
Children Sized Ski Boots
Hockey rink & Hall rentals
Funeral Services
Fitness Trainer
Hair Stylist/Barber
Esthetician Services
Accounting Services
Interior Design Services
Wedding Planner Services
Veterinarian Services
Cigarettes
Cigars
Chewing Tobacco
Nicotine Replacement Products

and the list will continue to grow once the HST is implemented.

The average family will be hit over and over and over for more money – guess we will all stay home and not watch Cable, read magazines, ride a bike, take vitamins, go out for dinner, get your haircut, get your nails done etc. so How is this Good For Us

///////

hmmmm. . . lets look at how many of the things, on which taxes are being increased, will affect low income families with children. . .
school supplies
used adult clothing
Adult sized clothing for children, which includes, shoes, boots, gloves etc
Snack foods (which, by the way, is alot more then just chips and pop)
Restaurant Meals
Basic Cable Television
Local Residential Phone
Taxi Services
Over-the-counter medications
Vitamins
Safety Helmets For Sports
Gym and Athletics Memberships
Ballet, Karate, Trampoline, Hockey, soccer Lesson etc
Bicycles
Hair stylist/Barber

So where exactly on these tax decreases I heard mentioned. . . oh wait. . . alcohol. . . .well isn’t that wonderful.
Well, now we can no longer afford to put little Jimmy in soccer lessons but we can all get really drunk, isn’t that great.

And as if all this isn’t bad enough, the taxes on funeral services will be increased by 7%!!!!! As if the loved ones do not get hit hard enough during that difficult time in there life. Does everyone realize how expensive a funeral is? 7% of 5,000-10,000 (for a low cost one) adds up pretty darn fast.

But that’s not the point. Ignatieff is Canada’s first major political
leader to stake out ground for the next new thing in public policy,
arguably the most important breakthrough in social, environmental and
health thinking for at least a generation. Mistakes are worth noting,
but they don’t show readily on that big a canvass. Scotland, Wales, Cuba
and Brazil are the only countries to have basics of a national food
policy, so Ignatieff deserves full marks for being way out front.

Ignatieff’s $80 million buy-local fund ignores any craving for local and
sustainable. As well, by my observations, that small an investment would
bring less than 200 major cafeterias to the point of 25 per cent local
purchases. Federal institutions could easily outdo that ten times,
paying for the start-up costs of going more local and local-sustainable
by avoiding unemployment insurance payouts through massive job creation
and by meeting greenhouse gas reduction goals in a very cost-effective
manner.

read more http://www.liberal.ca/en/newsroom/media-releases/18007_michael-ignatieff-commits-to-canadas-first-national-food-policy

Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby numbers soar

With seven weeks to go in a 13 week campaign, organizers for the Initiative petition to repeal the HST report they have collected 500,000 signatures representing 15% of registered voters province wide.

Organizers say that 72 of 85 ridings have crossed the Elections BC 10% threshold, with 51 of those going over the Fight HST internal threshold of 15%.

read more http://fighthst.com/

May is National Bike Month

more info – http://www.biketowork.ca/

Yes, he Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). They play their home games at General Motors Place, which has a capacity of 18,810.

But do you know how its name was born?

Johnny Canuck was a Canadian cartoon hero and superhero who was created as a political cartoon in 1869 and was later re-invented, first in 1942, then in 1975.

Johnny Canuck was created as a lumber jack national personification of Canada. He first appeared in early political cartoons dating to 1869 where he was portrayed as a younger cousin of the United States’ Uncle Sam and Britain’s John Bull. Depicted as a wholesome, if simple-minded, fellow in the garb of a habitant, farmer, logger, rancher or soldier, he often resisted the bullying of John Bull or Uncle Sam. For thirty years, he was a staple of editorial cartoonists. Then, in the early twentieth century, he faded from view.

The character re-emerged during World War II in the February 1942 issue of Bell’s Dime Comics No.1. Cartoonist Leo Bachle created the character as a teenager, apparently on a challenge from a Bell executive.

In 1945 the Pacific Coast Hockey League established an ice hockey franchise in the city of Vancouver. Known as the Canucks, they immediately enjoyed success by winning PCHL championships in their first (1946) and third (1948) year of existence. In 1952, the PCHL merged with the Western Canada Senior Hockey League to form the professional Western Hockey League.

The Vancouver suburb banned the sales of rabbits in February and wants to take its fight for animal protection one step further.

Ken Johnston, a Richmond City Council member, said the city wants the ban in place to stop pet stores from purchasing puppies from backyard breeders and puppy mills.

“There’s a local pet store that buys its dogs from a known US puppy mill,” he told ctvbc.ca. “And they admit to it.”

Johnston also said impulse buys are a problem with pet stores because customers do not realize the responsibility that comes with the animal.

“A person walks into the store and sees a puppy, and then it’s returned within the first year,” he said.

The Richmond Animal Protection Society couldn’t agree more.

“The benefit of the ban will be that it will…stop people from walking into a store and walking out with a pet,” said Helen Savkovic, a RAPS employee.

Like Johnston, RAPS wants to put a stop to untrained breeders who are distributing their puppies through pet stores.

“We are worried that a lot of the animals are from backyard breeders and puppy mills from both in Canada and outside,” Savkovic said. “Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) breeders have it in their code of ethics that they cannot sell to pet stores.”

Read more http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100318/bc_retail_animals_100318/20100319?hub=BritishColumbiaHome&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Seven people who told officials they entered Canada as spectators to the Vancouver Winter Olympics are seeking refugee status in Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada says six of those people come from countries that don’t require special visas to enter the country.

Owing to privacy law, a spokeswoman says she can’t divulge further identifying information about the claimants, including where they’re from.

It’s not unusual for people attending international sporting events in Canada to make claims, though summer sports usually produce more.

A man believed to be a Romanian coach claimed refugee status during the 1988 Calgary Games, and Olympian wrestler Daniel Igali claimed asylum here after competing at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria.

Immigration spokeswoman Johanne Nadeau said claims could still rise, because the period of time that people who attended the Games are legally allowed to remain here isn’t over.
from http://sports.ca.msn.com/olympics/article.aspx?cp-documentid=23557191

from http://www.flickr.com/photos/molsonblog/3003477444/

Twenty-five countries that ship fruits and vegetables to our country violated Canadian pesticide standards last year, according to documents obtained by CTV News.

Documents from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency show that China, France, Thailand, and Nicaragua are among the countries whose exported food is most likely to test positive for certain pesticides.

According to the report, the biggest violator was the Dominican Republic, with 71 per cent of its food testing positive for pesticides, and 16 per cent violating Canadian standards.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s Christina Hilliard says the agency conducted some 22,000 tests on imported food last year. While about one in four tests turned up a positive pesticide result, slightly less than one per cent were found to violate standards.

Read more http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews