VANCOUVER – Premier Gordon Campbell told B.C. Liberal supporters Thursday that his government has done a poor job explaining the benefits of the harmonized sales tax but will stay the course with the unpopular tax.
“We are a small open trading economy and we have to do everything that we can to make our businesses and enterprises more competitive,” Campbell told the 1,400 people who shelled out $350 apiece for a ticket to the B.C. Liberals’ annual fundraiser.
Campbell acknowledged that his popularity has steadily dropped since the 2009 election – despite the success of the 2010 Games.
While there have been “quite a few downs” over the past year, British Columbia is still “going to lead Canada into the 21st century,” Campbell said during his speech at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
The premier said that he was determined to do what is right for the province rather than what would make him popular.
Campbell said the need for the HST only became apparent shortly after the last election when Finance Ministry officials informed him and Finance Minister Colin Hansen about the plunge last year in provincial revenues stemming from the severe downturn in the global economy.
Shrugging off his party’s dismal poll numbers and voter anger over the HST, Campbell focused on what he held up as his achievements: the 2010 Olympic Games, lumber trade with China, creation of new universities and medical schools and reduction of taxation for small businesses.
Sounding nothing like a lame-duck premier ready to leave office before the 2013 election, Campbell said about the HST: “We knew that this was going to be tough. But we also knew that it was right.”
The party faithful, mostly in business suits, applauded Campbell throughout his speech, showing little of the anti-HST disenchantment found by pollsters in the party’s support base.
An Angus Reid public opinion poll released two days ago found the governing Liberals now have only 26 per cent support – down 20 points since the election last May – and are well behind the opposition New Democratic Party, which leads with 46 per cent support.
The same survey also found that a proposal by anti-HST activists to recall Liberal MLAs has early support from more than 60 per cent of people living in Liberal-held ridings.
The same polling company found in earlier polling that the only demographic where the Liberals have not seen a double-digit drop in support since the last election is among voters with yearly household incomes of $100,000 or more. Many of the people at the fundraiser likely came from this demographic.
The audience included many B.C. Liberal MLAs and cabinet ministers, including Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid, who acknowledged the unease among party supporters over the HST.
“I know that right now there is one thing that people are very unhappy with, in part because supporters are telling me that.
“And they’re not actually opposed to the HST, but they’re not happy with how we communicated it. We have a lot of work to do there.”
Asked whether she thinks Campbell will seek a fourth term, MacDiarmid said: “He’s the premier and that’s what I know. I have a huge amount of respect for him.”
Geoff Campbell, the premier’s son, said his father’s popularity will rebound. “I’m extremely biased … I”m going to say that he can definitely come back in the polls.”
NDP finance critic Bruce Ralston said Thursday in a media statement that the Liberals should listen to the public and dump the HST instead of financing an advertisement campaign promoting the tax. “The premier can save taxpayers a lot of money by scrapping the HST instead of blowing cash on his planned propaganda campaign this summer.”
dward@vancouversun.com
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