PRESS RELEASE: GOVERNOR GENERAL RESPONDS TO VANDER ZALM REQUEST TO CHECK CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY OF #HST
Dec 4, 2009 Press Release
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December 4, 2009
GOVERNOR GENERAL RESPONDS TO VANDER ZALM REQUEST TO CHECK CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY OF HST
Her Excellency, Michaelle Jean, Says She Wants No Part of It
Delta, BC – In a reply that came at ‘warp speed’ as Mr. Scott used to say on Star Trek, Canada’s Governor General, Michaelle Jean, told former BC Premier Bill Vander Zalm and his Fight HST group that she wanted nothing to do with the issue of whether the Campbell and Harper governments had overstepped their constitutional bounds in creating an HST in BC.
Following is the reply from her office, received at 5:18am PST (8:18am EST) on December 3, less than 18 minutes after receiving Mr. Vander Zalm’s request:
Dear Mr. Vander Zalm,
On behalf of Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, I am responding to your email.
While the Governor General appreciates your concerns, she feels that this issue would be best addressed by the Government of British Columbia. I understand from your letter that you have already contacted the Honourable Gordon Campbell, Premier of British Columbia, which was the appropriate step to take.
I wish you the very best. Thank you for writing.
Yours sincerely,
Antoine Morin – INFO
Rideau Hall
1 Sussex Drive / 1, promenade Sussex
Ottawa (Ontario) K1A 0A1
Vander Zalm points out that Jean, the 27th Governor General of Canada, has very few actual responsibilities. However, one of them is giving “Royal Assent” to all laws and bills passed by the Parliament of Canada.
Royal Asset is the process by which the Governor General gives the seal of approval to all legislation with her signature. It is the final step in the enactment of all laws. Vander Zalm’s request to her was simple – tell the people of BC whether or not the legislation creating an HST in BC is Constitutionally legal or not.
“I guess we found out that the Governor General either doesn’t know what she is signing on a daily basis, or doesn’t care. Her response indicates it is just too much trouble for her to determine if anything she proclaims into law actually follows the Constitution or not,” said Vander Zalm.
“I’d like to know what she would do if Parliament, as it once did, declared women not persons again and took away their voting rights in a piece of legislation? Would an issue like that also be too burdensome to determine whether it was legal or not?” Vander Zalm asked rhetorically.
“We weren’t asking her to take control of the government, just to do her duty and ensure the Constitutional rights of Canadians were not being trampled. Referring us back to the trampler to get restitution is like asking a murder victim to take it up with their killer. This is a total joke and if the Governor General won’t do her duty, what is she there for?”
“Maybe it’s time we got rid of her altogether. I have never seen such a useless waste of taxpayer’s dollars in all my political life,” concluded Vander Zalm.
Vander Zalm says his group is committed to using the Citizen Initiative process to repeal the Agreement between the Governments of BC and Canada to create an HST in BC. He said he will launch the application for the petition in the New Year, with signature collection to take place in March, April and May of 2010.
Tags: antoine morin, bill vander zalm, constitutional authority, daily basis, gordon campbell, government of british columbia, governor general michaelle jean, governor general of canada, ottawa ontario, parliament of canada, premier of british columbia, rideau hall, right honourable, royal assent, seal of approval, sussex drive, warp speed
December 5th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Letter to Editor in Nanaimo Daily News, December 5, 2009.
“Kudos to Vander Zalm for questioning HST legality”
Like any normal taxpaying Canadian I’m not happy about any kind of increases in taxation.
Nothing is more galling than the hypocrisy of the NDP in its opposition to this tax when they as a party have historically always increased taxes causing our provincial economies to deteriorate to such a degree that people have to leave that province to find employment elsewhere.
This ideological crowd knows how to hit all the politically correct rhetorical buttons; unfortunately they have no substantive sustainable solutions to the fundamental economic problems.
I applaud former Premier Vander Zalm in asking the Governor General of Canada to determine the legality of the federal government unilaterally removing B.C.’s constitutionality “exclusive” taxation authority over B.C. sales taxes without a constitutional amendment and the subsequent approval of the B.C. legislature. He says he believes both the province and Ottawa are acting outside the scope of their powers.
Section 92 of the Constitution act 1867 clearly stipulates that only the provincial legislatures have the jurisdiction to make laws concerning the raising of a revenue via direct taxation for provincial purposes in Canada exclusive of the federal government” he makes a few more relevant points in his letter that I hope get consideration from the Governor General.
No one likes another tax grab. The majority already has a significant problem with programs that are not essential, but used for buying votes from businesses or the screaming minority interest groups. The silent majority is always left out in the cold, to pick up the tab.
Casey Timmermans
Nanaimo
© The Daily News (Nanaimo) 2009
December 9th, 2009 at 3:47 am
Maybe you need to respond to the GG with that post. I’m glad to see you fighting for this Mr. Vanderzalm.