Bill Vander Zalm’s petition to repeal the HST may have passed the scrutiny of Elections B.C., but today a British Columbia court judge will analyze the draft bill to determine its constitutionality.
In June, a coalition of B.C. businesses representing, among others, the Council Of Forest Industries and the B.C. Chamber Of Commerce filed a judicial review of the anti-HST petition.
The coalition said the harmonized sales tax will make their industries more competitive while encouraging job creation and international investment.
“This (review) will enable a judge to make a simple determination as to whether the draft bill is constitutionally valid and therefore suitable for introduction to the legislature,” the group said in a release.
Vander Zalm’s petition calls for the government to submit a bill to the legislature reversing the tax, which came into law on July 1.
His team with FightHST collected more than 700,000 signatures from more than 10 per cent of voters in all provincial ridings.
The petition was presented to Elections B.C. in early July.
Last week, the agency confirmed all the signatures on the petition were valid.
The province’s chief electoral officer told Vander Zalm he won’t act on the petition until after the outcome of the judicial review.
