B.C.’s acting chief electoral officer, Craig James, plans to send the anti-HST petition to the select standing committee of the B.C. legislature on August 23.
That letter will contain the following text: “Pursuant to section 10 of the Recall and Initiative Act, I have now determined that an initiative petition issued to William Vander Zalm on Tuesday, April 6, 2010 has met the requirements of s. 7 of the Act. I have further determined that the proponent, Mr. Vander Zalm, has complied with Part 4 of the Act. Accordingly, as mandated by the Act, I am enclosing a copy of the petition and draft Bill.”
That decision comes after B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Bauman declared August 20 that the anti-HST petition is valid and able to proceed to the provincial legislature.
It was a blow for business groups who wanted clarity on whether the bill attached to the petition could possibly be effective.
“Our concern was with the language in the attached legislation – the HST Extinguishment Act,” the group’s spokesperson, John Winter, told Business in Vancouver after Bauman’s judgment.
“The court basically said that it was beyond their scope to say whether the act, as presented, would be successful in extinguishing the HST. They weren’t going to answer that question and that was the question we were asking.”
Winter said that his group would not appeal the judgment.
The six associations that launched the judicial review were:
They had a powerful legal team that included former B.C. attorney general and Heenan Blaikie LLP partner, Geoff Plant.
Arvay Finlay lawyer Joseph Arvay represented former premier and anti-HST organizer, Bill Vander Zalm.
Inside the courtroom, lawyers debated the nuances of Canadian constitutional law, the separation of powers outlined in Sections 91 and 92 of the Constitution and the impact of the B.C. legislature never passing an act to initiate the HST, relying instead on the cabinet passing an order in council.
Outside the courtroom, respected longtime constitutional watchers, such as Ted McWhinney, similarly opined about the outcome of the court case. McWhinney also said he considered it “nonsense” for Elections BC’s acting chief electoral officer Craig James to hold off sending the petition to a legislative committee until the courts had made a ruling on the tax’s legitimacy.