Most people are aware that the provincial government is wasting taxpayer money to run advertisements in an attempt to get the electorate to vote to retain the HST. The theme of these advertisements is “Decide for yourselves”. The strange thing is that people had already decided for themselves that they didn’t want the HST which prompted the need for a referendum in the first place.
While the government encourages that people get the facts before voting, in at least one advertisement, they have misrepresented the facts with regard to transition cheques that will be paid to seniors if the HST remains in effect. The advertisement states as follows: “The government will provide $175 for every senior with income up to $40,000”. This advertisement implies that the rebate cheque is based on each individual senior’s income and not family income.
When I contacted the Ministry of Finance’s office for clarification, they stated that the senior’s rebate was, in fact, based on family income, and not individual income as stated in the advertisement. Therefore, the Liberal government is either knowingly, or unknowingly through incompetence, influencing the vote to retain the HST with erroneous and misleading information. If this government expects to regain any credibility on this issue they should immediately correct these misleading advertisements.
D. C. Bergman
Penticton