Your glorious Editor-in-Chief (that’s me) was out yesterday buying a treat for himself. Some fried chicken from Save-On-Foods and I received an immediate reminder of how much so many British Columbians owe to so few but dedicated fellow citizens.
I’m speaking of the hated HST. Normally when I buy something special on a fixed budget, something better than tins of beans and Kraft Dinners, I have to factor in the frightfully high HST on that food. The $8 fried chicken mentioned above would have cost at least another buck in tax.
Instead, to my pleasant surprise (because I’d forgotten), the tax was a measly 40 cents. I felt like I could buy a meal for myself without worrying about whether I was carrying enough extra change to afford the tax. And in case anyone wants to belittle the difference in the amount, the difference represents an extra tin of beans at Superstore, i.e. another meal. That matters on a fixed budget!
And we primarily have two great BC’ers to thank for that: Bill Tieleman and Bill Vander Zalm. From opposite political spectrums (an issue very dear to our heart by the way; this left v right stuff is a red herring we all need to avoid) they both together fought tooth and nail to put a stop to this idiotic HST scam that the BC Liberals pulled on BC’ers and succeeded without the backing of any electoral body or political party, just willpower and determination to do good for the people of BC.
So thank you Bill and Bill for the cheaper meal yesterday and for all the other meals and other stuff that are more affordable again. Now that’s the BC Spirit!
