"With an insensitivity to public opinion that defies understanding, the BC Liberals are forcing through the legislation that will enable the imposition of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST)."

Columbia-Revelstoke NDP MLA Norm Macdonald.

On December 30, 2009, Governor-General Michaëlle Jean agreed to a request from Prime Minister Stephen Harper that she prorogue Parliament for the duration of the 2010 Winter Games.

All business of the House was thus deferred until March 3, 2010. Lambasted by leaders of the opposition parties, the action created a Canada-wide furore. There were protests in 60 cities across the country -- several of them in British Columbia. Close to 21,000 Canadians chanted anti-Conservative slogans to protest what they saw as a move by the Harper government to escape politically embarrassing questions on the Afghan detainee matter.

By Jan. 22, more than 200,000 had added their names to the Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament Facebook petition calling for Harper to resign.

Whether in the right or not, this was grassroots democracy in action.

So why the populist silence on the streets when Premier Gordon Campbell invoked closure of the B.C. legislature on April 22, with four weeks remaining on the legislative calendar?

After all, where Harper's motives were mere supposition, the motives of Campbell and Finance Minister Colin Hansen were acknowledged by the men themselves: by fair means or foul, they intended to pass Bill 9, legislation that would do away with the PST as a prerequisite to their July 1 imposition of the much-detested Harmonized Sales Tax.

The answer appears to be that British Columbians have abandoned any hope of legislative democracy and have decided to take matters into their own hands -- literally.

Polls show more than 80 per cent oppose the HST.

Businesses surveyed by chambers of commerce report opposition running from 71 to 80 per cent, even though the HST will transfer a $2.6 billion tax burden from corporations -- many of them foreign-owned -- to the shoulders of ordinary folk.

And speaking of business, let's not forget that, despite the fulminations of Campbell and those in the financial world about the "corporate need to compete," it is small businesses -- companies employing 100 people or fewer -- that provide more than 80 per cent of Canadian jobs.

So riding high on the energy of 75-year-old former Premier Bill Vander Zalm, organizers have distributed copies of official petition forms throughout B.C.

For the initiative to succeed, the legislation governing such petitions requires the verified signatures of 10 per cent of eligible voters in every constituency in the province. Because mistakes happen, and because some people are confused about altered constituency boundaries and might sign the wrong form, the fighthst.com canvassers are aiming for a minimum of 15 per cent.

By May 10, more than 400,000 signatures had been collected. Organizer Chris Delaney says numbers have exceeded the Elections BC minimum in all North Shore constituencies.

Has that fazed North Shore Liberal MLAs? Apparently not, if one can judge by an e-mail from West Vancouver-Capilano MLA, Ralph Sultan to his constituents, recapitulating remarks he made to the legislature April 22.

Speaking to a motion by the Official Opposition that Bill 9 not proceed at that time but be forwarded to the select standing committee on finance and government services and that the committee invite witnesses to assist in its deliberations, Sultan said (in the patronizing tones that have become a hallmark of the current government):

"So what are we debating here? We're debating an amendment to the law eliminating the Provincial Sales Tax."

Yes, Mr. Sultan; that is absolutely what was being debated. It was an amendment to legislation that would have allowed due process -- an opportunity for witnesses to provide input to the committee on behalf of the democratic voice of the people, a voice your government refuses to hear.

"We are not debating the adoption of the Harmonized Sales Tax," he continued. "That decision was made six months ago in a capital city about 2,500 miles that way by the Parliament of Canada, and it's now the law of Canada."

As one might expect, Sultan said nothing about the prime minister's claim that all the House of Commons did was approve enabling legislation and payment of a $1.6-billion "inducement" to facilitate imposition of the HST in Ontario and B.C.

Nor did he acknowledge Harper's attitude that it's up to the people of Ontario and B.C. to decide whether they'll take up the offer.

So, assuming I may not use the L word, I'll ask the question this way: Which government is not telling us the truth?

I know where I'm placing my bet.

Vander Zalm put it more politely when he said: "The notion that Ottawa will not abide by the wishes of British Columbians and cancel the HST does not square with Prime Minister Harper's previous statements that the decision to harmonize is a provincial one."

But Sultan was not done: Hansard recorded yet another, very telling, paragraph:

"I find it faintly offensive that the NDP would urge us to take a consultation on a fundamental matter of economic policy of the people. . . . This is the house of the people . . . and I find the idea that we're incapable of debating this matter . . . but have to take it into the ballrooms and high school gymnasiums of the province faintly offensive."

Your umbrage notwithstanding, Mr. Sultan, I and hundreds of thousands of other citizen-nuisances are more than offended that the premier and the governing caucus of this province continue to deny us input into a law that will drastically alter our own fundamental economics -- made all the more galling given that your arrogant caucus received the active support of a mere 24 per cent of eligible voters just one year ago today.

But never mind. Despite the litany of deceits of the past nine years, perhaps we needed the HST finally to bring us to our feet and heed the adage: Don't get mad, get even.

On May 7 in this paper, Global legislative reporter Keith Baldrey presented a clear iteration of the legal impediments that face petition organizers. He makes a persuasive case that, working in concert, Campbell and Harper will impose the tax, regardless of the number of signatures.

Reality suggests he's right; but if Saskatchewan can repeal the tax, so can B.C.

It is imperative that the petition succeed because, as Vander Zalm has said on many recent occasions, "The HST initiative is no longer all about a much-hated tax; it has become all about truth in government and about the rights of citizens in a democracy."

Amen to that; but the effort cannot be left to one man and his team. The initiative process, so well understood by the people -- and the governments -- of Switzerland and the United States, is also about the responsibility of individuals to play their part.

So let's make sure each one of us holds up our end of the bargain. Our democracy and our bank accounts depend on it.

--rimco@shaw.ca