Colin Hansen finally figures out that he screwed the people of British Columbia

And now he's apologizing.

Finance Minister Colin Hansen has offered up an apology for the way his government sprung the harmonized sales tax on unsuspecting British Columbians. But the way the tax was imposed, he said, should not influence the referendum that is to come on whether or not the HST should stay.

So now Colin wants to be best buddies with all of us? I hope not. He will remember that some of us have stories from George P. Vanier Secondary School which might still embarrass the minister.

Apology not accepted.

Colin Hansen either lied to the people of British Columbia or has demonstrated a level of incompetence which supports his removal from office. He is not fit to govern.

The way the tax was imposed is entirely the reason we should be influenced in a future referendum. Whatever reason he had for slapping a tax on the citizens of BC, it was not divulged during an election campaign, it was not subject to public hearings and it was not debated in the legislature. The people of BC wore this by Campbell fiat. If Hansen thinks it's such a good idea, repeal it and then reintroduce it properly.

It's about bloody time these guys were hacked off at the knees.

I expect that if Hansen had committed the same level of heinous act with his wife she would be demanding a divorce.

That works for me. Write on the board, Mr. Hansen, 1000 times, RECALL.

Or resign and avoid it.

BC's finance minister doesn't read tax briefings

At least, that's what he's trying to tell us.

Hansen insists he never read most of those documents, revealing though they were. "This is not something that was particularly important at the time. If it had been part of our plan -- when we get through the election we're going to harmonize the sales tax -- I would have read every bloody word and studied it."

Didn't study his own briefing notes. Didn't pay attention to the game-changing developments in Ontario. Didn't have a clue really.

Not much of a defence for his own qualifications to serve as minister of finance. But considering that the alternative explanation would be systematic lies and coverup, I guess it was the best he could do.

Palmer is being rather generous there. Rafe Mair is a little less guarded and calls out both Hansen and Campbell for what they are: lying cowards.

Folks, the plain truth is this: Colin Hansen asked for the briefing note more than two months before the election and the issue was not only "on the radar screen", it was well on its way to becoming government policy - a policy that Campbell and Hansen hid from the people during the election.

And why would Campbell and Hansen try to hang on to that increasingly slippery rung on the ladder to the bottom? Well, it would appear that Campbell isn't done shafting British Columbians quite yet. Before he uproots and moves his lying carcass to Maui he has one final move guaranteed to leave a bad taste in the mouths of BC ratepayers.

The HST will create thousands of elephants in BC

That's right. Elephants. Or, if you've been listening to Gordon Campbell's homeboy, Colin Hansen, it will be jobs.

Same thing.

You see, Hansen is ready at a moment's notice to don his body armour and jump out in front of a microphone to tell you that introducing a 12 percent HST in British Columbia will create thousands of .... (oh hell, just fill in the blank with anything you like)... jobs.

That, however, is his end game. What he never tells you is how he expects all that fresh new employment to be created or even if, after his closed door meetings with the movers and shakers in the anti-PST business world, if he has even the slightest hint of a guarantee that such a thing will happen.

Reason? He doesn't have a clue. He's hoping that the economic crash, (brought about by the very people who are telling him that HST is a job creation formula), will ease and that a slow recovery in the US house construction market will see forestry and mill jobs start to increase in BC. He'll then point to the nexus of unemployment in BC and tell you how his wizardry created jobs. (Never mind that they were the very same jobs which were lost because conservatives of his ilk refused to acknowledge that the financial world had gone south with everyone's life savings.)

So, I take pleasure in pointing out a few things which lead out of Bob's posting.

After protest sprung up around the province Hansen once again took his position in front of the microphone. (Emphasis mine)

Finance Minister Colin Hansen was quick to respond, holding a news conference with business leaders to talk about why B.C. should implement the HST.

"There's no question that the HST is the most effective form of … consumer tax that a country or a jurisdiction can implement," he said, adding the tax will create jobs.

Bully!! Aside from the standard "it will create jobs" bullshit, it raises another small question: The Campbell corporate government has been in power since 2001. How is it that every overture from the feds to implement HST was dismissed by this mob until now? If it's the most effective form of consumer taxation, as Hansen describes it, why did it take eight full years to buy into the idea? Were they just too stupid to realize how cool a system it was?

So, they're either very dumb or they're lying. Either way, they shouldn't be allowed to represent anybody.

The kicker however is the continuing line that Hansen and Campbell had not formulated a plan to implement the HST before the last provincial election (May 2009). By their account, the idea was latched onto after they retook government. (Which would make it a hastily adopted plan without public consultation.)

So, along comes the Victoria Times-Colonist asking for information. They wanted to see the government correspondence related to the HST from January to September 2009. Surprise!

The Times Colonist, like dozens of other media outlets, is requesting the documents to see whether the Liberal government is telling the truth when it says it never considered implementing the HST before the May election. It introduced the tax less than two months after winning a new majority government.

Diligent little devils down there on Douglas Street and what did they get?

A Freedom of Information Request by the Times Colonist for government records about the HST came back with a hefty fee estimate this week: $3,500.

$3,500 for photocopying and vetting?! Yet Hansen says they weren't even considering it before the middle of this summer.

That's a lot of correspondence that piled up in a few weeks.

I wouldn't even bother asking any further. The estimate for the FOI request alone tells the story. There is a ton of documents. And the bill the Time-Colonist would have to pay is either an intentional intervention by a minister to make them go away or the pile is so huge that it stretches back to 2008.

It doesn't matter. It just means the Campbell government is moulded around the things it has always found attractive: corruption, liars and drunks.

The BC "Liberals" fly their true colours

When things get dirty, so do conservatives, and that's what Gordon Campbell really is.

The provincial Environment Ministry has suffered deep cuts in Tuesday's budget and a levy that raised $25-million annually for clean energy has been repealed, raising questions about the direction of Canada's greenest province.

And if you want to make matters worse, this crowd has suddenly realized how many businesses are about to get royally screwed by their acceptance of Flaherty's $1.6 billion bribe and are now trying to find ways to rebate a seven percent tax increase on almost everything.

If you want to know how people are feeling about this pack of lying hyenas (my apologies to that wild species) you only have to travel the Trans-Canada Highway from Victoria to Duncan. Just east of Duncan you will see a sign which says it all.

George W. Bush for Premier.

Campbell won't understand that. The same as he didn't comprehend that drinking and driving was a criminal act for everyone.